Yuniel Dorticós Pao (born 11 March 1986) is a Cuban professional boxer.
2005
He placed second three times in a row at the Cuban national championships from 2005- 2007 at light-heavyweight, each time behind Yusiel Nápoles.
2005 (light heavyweight)
2006
2006 (light heavyweight)
2008
In 2008 he came in third, after losing to future Olympic gold medalist Julio César La Cruz in the semifinals.
Dorticos represented Cuba twice in the Boxing World Cup.
2009
Dorticos defected in 2009 and began a career in the paid ranks, fighting as a cruiserweight.
Dorticos slowly worked his way up the ranks, fighting outmatched opponents.
He won his first 17 fights by knockout (KO).
2014
In February 2014, Dorticos defeated Hamilton Ventura in his 16th professional fight.
Dorticos completely overwhelmed Ventura, knocking him down three times before the referee stopped the fight.
With the win, Dorticos broke into the top 15 of the WBA and WBC.
Dorticos was knocked down for the first time in the first round of a bout against Eric Fields.
He was able to dust himself off and return the knockdown towards the end of that same round.
Dorticos knocked out Fields at 2 minutes 59 seconds in round four.
In April 2014, Dorticos would go the distance for the first time, as Edison Miranda was able to take his power.
Nevertheless, Dorticos won a wide unanimous decision (100–90, 100–90, 99–91).
Dorticos sought fights against Murat Gassiev, Beibut Shumenov, and Denis Lebedev but was ultimately unable to get any of them in the ring.
Dorticos became the mandatory to the WBA's champion Denis Lebedev following a win over Fulgencio Zúñiga.
However, the WBA allowed Lebedev to unify against IBF title-holder Victor Emilio Ramírez before facing Dorticos.
In turn, the WBA ordered Dorticos to fight Youri Kalenga for an interim championship.
2016
The fight was due for 20 May 2016 at the Palais des Sports in Paris.
This would be Dorticos' first pro bout outside the United States.
In a thrilling fight, Dorticos stopped Kalenga in the tenth round via technical knockout (TKO) to become a world champion.
Dorticos dropped Kalenga in the second round after a flurry of shots.
Kalenga was able to recover and get back into the fight in the middle rounds, despite receiving a cut over one of his eyes during round six.
Dorticos lost a point at the end of round eight for hitting after the bell.
In round ten, Dorticos once again landed a flurry a punches on Kalenga, at which point the referee stopped the fight.
Following his victory, Dorticos entered a purse bid for a fight against WBA (Regular) champion Beibut Shumenov.
The fight was delayed several times, due to promotional issues before being called off due to an eye injury that Shumenov suffered during sparring.
2017
He is a two-time former cruiserweight world champion, having held the WBA title from 2017 to 2018 and the IBF title from 2019 to 2020.
As of August 2022, he is ranked as the world's third best active cruiserweight by The Ring magazine and the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board, and sixth by BoxRec.
In June 2017, Shumenov vacated his title due to that same injury.
The WBA elevated Dorticos from interim champion to regular champion, despite Dorticos being away from the ring for over a year.
A day after being elevated to WBA (Regular) champion, Dorticos joined the World Boxing Super Series.
The Super Series is a single-elimination tournament featuring 8 fighters from the cruiserweight division.
The field includes title-holders from all 4 of boxing's major sanctioning bodies.
Dorticos was revealed to be the tournament's 4th seed.
On the tournament's draft, it was determined that Dorticos would face Dmitry Kudryashov in the quarterfinals.
The fight was set for 23 September at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.
