Boxing in Puerto Rico

Governor Mann Towner, an American, signed into law in May of that year a proposal that had been first carried by Puerto Rican legislator, don Lorenzo Coballes Gandía, who suggested to him that the sport be legalized in the island.

He defeated, among others, Jimmy Garrison,[24] International Boxing Hall of Fame member and former world Junior Welterweight champion Jack Kid Berg (a fifth-round knockout win for Montanez on Friday, March 10, 1939, at the New York Hippodrome)[25] and Young Peter Jackson at the Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles, California on Tuesday, April 25 of the same year.

[28] Montanez had one more contest and then he retired with 90 wins, 9 losses and 4 ties to his ledger, becoming a popular figure in Puerto Rico and specially in Cayey, where his nickname, "El Torito" ("The Bull") was adopted by the town as the city's secondary demonym and several sports teams are now named after him.

Gomez and Zarate fought their bout there on October 28, 1978,[44] (Gomez retained his WBC world Super-Bantamweight title by a fifth-round knockout in a fight that is considered pivotal in the Puerto Rico-Mexico boxing rivalry)[45] and the also Mexican Julio Cesar Chavez fought one of his pre-world champion days fights there, beating Javier Fragoso on May 1, 1983, as part of the undercard of a program whose main event was a contest between Edwin Rosario of Puerto Rico and Chavez's stablemate and countryman, Jose Luis Ramirez, which Rosario won by unanimous decision in twelve rounds to lift the WBCs vacant world Lightweight title.

He was sentenced to life in prison but was diagnosed with HIV during the middle 1980s, becoming the first world champion boxer to die of AIDS disease in 1989, but not before being pardoned by Puerto Rico governor Rafael Hernandez Colon and then released from jail, later receiving a public visit and a hug from his former ring nemesis Duran.

[49] Samuel Serrano won the WBA's world Junior Lightweight title by defeating Ben Villaflor by a fifteen-rounds unanimous decision on Saturday, October 16, 1976, at the Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan.

Bouts such as Wilfredo Gomez vs. Lupe Pintor and Wilfred Benitez vs. Thomas Hearns, Aaron Pryor vs. Alexis Arguello, Salvador Sanchez versus Azumah Nelson, Larry Holmes vs. Tim Witherspoon and the two Michael Dokes vs. Mike Weaver contests (Holmes vs. Witherspoon and the Dokes vs. Weaver rematch were both on May 20, 1983) and Ray Mancini vs. Bobby Chacon were telecast live and free of charge; television commentators for these fights included Rafael Bracero, Luis Rigual, Junior Abrams and Norman H. Davila.

On Sunday, March 11, 1984, Mark Medal, an American of Puerto Rican descent, won the IBFs inaugural world Junior Middleweight championship bout, stopping Earl Hargrove in five rounds to lift the vacant title at the Sands Casino and Hotel in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Major boxing events continued being telecast in Puerto Rico live and free of charge by Puerto Rican networks from the mid to the late 1980s; these included Thomas Hearns vs. Roberto Duran, Hearns vs. Marvin Hagler, Hagler vs. Sugar Ray Leonard, Leonard's third fight with Roberto Duran, Wilfredo Gomez vs. Juan Laporte, Azumah Nelson and Rocky Lockridge,(the three latter contests re-transmitted on television days after they took place, since they were all held in San Juan) Jose Luis Ramirez vs. Hector Camacho Sr., Donald Curry vs. Milton McCrory, Julio Cesar Chavez vs. Rocky Lockridge, Chavez's challenge of Edwin Rosario, Duran's challenge of Iran Barkley and many Mike Tyson contests, including his major fight with Michael Spinks, his world Heavyweight title unification fight with Tony Tucker, Larry Holmes' challenge of him, the first Tyson-Bruno match and, also, Hector Camacho vs. Ray Mancini.

For his part, Caguas' Carazo, who had recently defeated Argentina's legendary Santos Laciar by a twelve-rounds spilt decision,[94] fought Mexico's Gilberto Roman for the Mexican's WBC world Super-Flyweight title on Monday, June 5, 1989, at the Great Western Forum in Inglewood, California.

On Saturday, August 11, 1990, Camacho Sr. successfully defended his WBO world Junior-Welterweight title by beating his personal friend, Tony Baltazar by a twelve-rounds unanimous decision at the Caesars Tahoe hotel in Stateline, Nevada.

[110] On Wednesday, December 22, 1993, the fast-rising star, Alex Sanchez, became the WBO's world Minimumweight champion, defeating Orlando Malone for the vacant belt at the Caribe Hilton Hotel in San Juan by a first-round knockout.

Camacho won the match, sending the illustrious Leonard into retirement by knocking him out in five rounds at the Convention Center in Atlantic City, New Jersey,[123] giving the American his first knockout loss in a fight televised on Pay-Per-View.

The longly awaited-for unification bout between Sanchez and Mexican legend, the undefeated (46–0) Ricardo Lopez, took place on Saturday, August 27, 1997, at the Madison Square Garden in New York city, once again igniting the Mexico-Puerto Rico boxing rivalry.

Trinidad dropped Whitaker and dominated the bout, winning by a rather easy twelve-rounds unanimous decision to retain the belt,[131] further cementing the seeds for a super-fight showdown between the two young superstars and world welterweight champions.

Though he had been undefeated since his 1st round 19 second loss against David Tua in 1996, the level of competition Ruiz had been facing was suspect and the only fighter with a recognizable name he had beaten (to date) was a nearly 40-year-old former IBF world champion Tony Tucker.

A judge agreed, but rather than face Ruiz in a bout that was seen as commercially unattractive, Lewis instead fought Michael Grant, considered to be a very worthy contender at the time, having knocked out a series of recognized "name" opponents on HBO.

Cotto, who had unsuccessfully participated at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, representing Puerto Rico, fought that night at the Frank Erwin Center in Austin, Texas, facing Jason Doucet in a Junior-Welterweight contest.

The fight was contested on September 29 instead, when Hopkins defeated Trinidad by a twelfth-round technical knockout,[155] unifying the titles and inflicting what many feel was the biggest loss by a Puerto Rican boxer since Salvador Sánchez beat Wilfredo Gomez back in 1981.

Ruiz defended this title by beating former world Heavyweight champion Hasim Rahman by a twelve-rounds unanimous decision on Saturday, December 13, 2003, as part of an HBO Boxing Pay-Per-View show held at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Cotto faced old amateur nemesis Kelson Pinto of Brazil for the WBO's vacant world Junior Welterweight championship at the Jose Miguel Agrelot Coliseum in San Juan, on that night.

Margarito took a beating, lasting the twelve rounds distance but having an injury to his right eye socket and a fractured orbital bone, for which he was transported by ambulance to a nearby hospital after the bout,[176] after losing the contest, which was for the WBC's vacant world Welterweight title, by a twelve-rounds unanimous decision.

Cotto's next contest was another major, Pay-Per-View production: he faced Floyd Mayweather Jr., widely considered among the greatest boxers of all time, on Saturday, May 5, 2012, at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, defending his WBA world Junior Middleweight title and fighting for the WBC's vacant "silver" version of the same championship.

Miguel Cotto's last super-fight was also a chapter in the long history of the Puerto Rico-Mexico boxing rivalry: faced with Guadalajara's superstar, Saul "Canelo" Alvarez to defend his Ring Magazine-recognized world Middleweight title and fight for the vacant WBC one, on Saturday, November 21, 2015 (a date that has proven to be of poor luck to Puerto Ricans against Mexicans as Edwin Rosario had lost to Julio Cesar Chavez on the same date but in 1987)[192] at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Paradise, Nevada (near Las Vegas) Cotto lost by twelve-rounds unanimous decision in a contest that was scored widely in favor of Alvarez by all three judges but which experts, including those of ESPN, saw as a much closer affair albeit still favoring the Mexican.

On that night, he defended his WBO world Junior Middleweight title against Sadam Ali, at the Madison Square Garden in New York, in a fight that was televised to the United States on HBO Boxing and to Mexico on Televisa, as well as to other countries of Latin America on Canal Space.

[213] On Saturday, April 22, 2017, Serrano went down in weight again and won the until then vacant WBO world Bantamweight title by beating the Dominican Republic's Dahianna Santana by an eighth-round technical knockout at the Barclay's Center in Brooklyn.

[214] Continuing her title-winning ways, Serrano fought Yamila Esther Reynoso of Argentina for the WBO's vacant women's world Junior-Welterweight title on Saturday, September 8, 2018, at the Barclay's Center.

[215] For her next bout after the Reynoso contest, Serrano lost some thirty pounds to compete in the Super-Flyweight division, where she faced Eva Voraberger of Austria[216] for the WBO's vacant world title on Friday, January 18, 2019, at the Madison Square Garden in New York City.

[218] On Thursday, March 21, 2021, Serrano defeated Argentina's Daniela Bermudez at the Plaza del Quinto Centenario in San Juan to retain her WBC and WBO women's world Featherweight titles and add the IBO's one, which was vacant, by a ninth-round knockout.

Cindy Serrano won the Universal Boxing Federation's world Junior Lightweight title when she beat Grecia Novas Mateo for the vacant belt on Friday, May 10, 2013, at the Carlos Cruz Coliseum in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, by a first-round knockout.