Olympics-Boxing-Twice champion Cesar La Cruz eliminated in opening bout

By Aadi Nair

PARIS (Reuters) - Cuba's twice Olympic champion Julio Cesar La Cruz was eliminated from the men's heavyweight competition on Sunday following a 3-2 split decision defeat by Loren Alfonso of Azerbaijan.

Cesar La Cruz, light heavyweight champion at the 2016 Rio Games and heavyweight champion five years later in Tokyo, was hoping to become only the fourth boxer to win three Olympic gold medals alongside Teofilo Stevenson, Felix Savon and Lazlo Papp.

Cesar La Cruz's compatriot Arlen Lopez Cardona, who fights in the light heavyweight class on Tuesday, can still achieve the feat, having also won gold in Rio and Tokyo.

In an enthralling and even clash, Cesar La Cruz and Cuban-born Alfonso traded fearsome blows, before exchanging a hug when Alfonso's name was called out at the North Paris Arena.

"No, this was just one more fight. I see it as a final because for me it's a secret that I fought with the best in the world. And, well, thank God the result was in my favour, but it could have been in his favour as well," Alfonso told reporters.

"I wasn't thinking about when I was winning or when I was losing.

"I was just trying to do my best, trying to do things well. And, well, in the end the result came out in my favour. I swear I was sitting there and I didn't know how many points I had or anything."

Alfonso faces Kazakhstan's Aibek Oralbay on Thursday.

(Reporting by Aadi Nair in Paris; Editing by Alison Williams and Ed Osmond)