The young boxer was known as Osvary Morrell while becoming a star amateur in his home country of Cuba. He turned 20 on Jan. 18, 2018, only a few days before winning a gold medal in the first-ever India Open International Tournament in New Delhi.
There had been several other gold medals in international events and he had an advertised amateur record of 130-2.
This excellence created the lure of a professional career, and that drew three men from the Morrell family to the sea on June 4, 2018: the father, Rafael Sr.; the older son, Rafael Jr.; and Osvary.
There was a boat there that would attempt to take them away from Cuba and start the journey across the big water to Mexico. To get to that boat, the Morrell men would need to swim a considerable distance and avoid the security patrols on the lookout for these forbidden seacraft with human cargo.
Rafael Jr. and Osvary made it to the boat. So did Rafael Sr., but as he climbed aboard, somehow in the congestion, he fell back into the sea.
"My father was there, at the back of the boat,'' younger son Osvary said. "And then he slipped. People tried to hold onto him, but he was back in the water.
"I started to freak out. I was trying to jump overboard, to help him, but my brother said, 'What are you doing? He's going to get picked up soon, You'd get picked up, too.'"
Rafael Sr. said a few days ago: "The police boat that was following us took me out of the water. They held me for 20 days, and then I was allowed to go home.''