Mario César Kindelán Mesa (born August 10, 1971), best known as Mario Kindelán, is a Cuban former amateur boxer. He is a two-time Olympic gold medalist, having competed in the lightweight division at the 2000 and 2004 events and defeated world champion boxer Amir Khan to win Olympic gold in 2004. His cousin is baseball player Orestes Kindelán.
His most successful period came in a winning streak starting with the 1999 Pan American Games title, and covered every major event he entered including the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, three world championships (1999, 2001, 2003), and the 2003 Pan American Games. His most recent victory was at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, defeating Amir Khan in the final, and retaining his gold medal from four years earlier.
Kindelan holds wins over future professional world champions Felix Trinidad, Miguel Cotto, Amir Khan and Andreas Kotelnik. Kindelan also beat fellow Olympic champions Somluck Kamsing and Felix Diaz.
Prior to the Olympics in 2004 Kindelan had beaten Khan 33–13 at the pre-tournament as well as beating him at the Olympics 30–22.
Mario Kindelan's amateur record was 358–22, having not lost since 1999 till his retirement in 2004.
1999 Pan-American Games Champion
2003 Pan-American Games Champion
In 1999, he was named as one of the top ten athletes in Cuba, and was named Boxer of the Year.
Defeated Pongsith Wiangwiset (Thailand) 14–8
Defeated Tigran Ouzlian (Greece) RSC 4
Defeated Alexandr Maletin (Russia) 27–15
Defeated Andreas Kotelnik (Ukraine) 14–4 in the Gold Medal match.
Kindelan's results in the games, were as follows:
Round of 32: Defeated Ahmed Sadiq of Nigeria (RSC-3)
Round of 16: Defeated Asghar Ali Shah of Pakistan (24–9)
Quarterfinals: Defeated Rovshan Huseynov of Azerbaijan (23–11)
Semifinals: Defeated Murat Khrachev of Russia (20–10)
Gold Medal match: Defeated Amir Khan of Great Britain (30–22)