Colombian boxer overcame adversity to pursue dream.
Ducking and eluding punches, throwing a powerful right-left-right combo while bouncing around the ring, Andres Felipe Diaz Mateus appears to be your typical boxer. However, the 2013 Florida Atlantic graduate has one characteristic that most boxers don’t have.
Diaz Mateus, a 28-year-old Miami resident, is an amputee. When he bounces around the ring, it’s off of his left foot and a black and silver, Otto Bock Harmony-brand prosthetic leg, made with carbon fiber from the ashes of volcanoes. The name of his native country, “Colombia,” is written across the top.