35 Miles wide. 135 miles long.
53 World champions.
Despite being an island of just four million inhabitants, Puerto Rico has produced more than its fair share of elite athletes. They’ve sent countless stars to the major leagues—but boxing is where they have achieved their greatest success—53 world champions and counting, as well as six Olympic medals, their most in any sport.
Why do Puerto Rico and pugilism go hand in hand? Because what it takes to be a premier fighter is what it takes to thrive on the island. In a 2017 New York Times op-ed in the wake of Hurricane Maria, Juan Giusti-Cordero wrote, “In Puerto Rico, we invented resilience.”
It’s that resilience that has catapulted a number of Boricuan fighters to the top of the sweet science. Sixto Escobar laid the blueprint when he became world bantamweight champion in the 1930s. He was perhaps the first star athlete of any kind to emerge from the island, and it grew the interest of boxing to an immense degree.
Carlos Ortiz, Jose Torres, Wilfredo Gomez, Hector Camacho, Wilfred Benitez, Felix Trinidad, Miguel Cotto all managed to find great international success. Many of them have topped fiery fight cards at Madison Square Garden on the weekend of the Puerto Rican Day Parade, and those have been some of the most voracious crowds the sport has ever seen. There are 11 Puerto Rican fighters currently in the International Boxing Hall of Fame.
Boxing is so important on the island that the government approved a law 25 years ago to provide a pension and other assistance to former fighters who have found themselves in troubled times. It feeds into the notion that Puerto Ricans take care of their own.
There are more than 35 gyms and 80 boxing clubs on the island, and an amateur program that has produced some of the sport’s best fighters. Today, Wilfredo Gomez, Miguel Cotto, and Ivan Calderon lead these programs, and have devoted their post-professional boxing lives to developing the next generation of champions.
That’s why Ring City USA is coming to the island in March 2021 for three shows. Will we celebrate Puerto Rico’s boxing heritage, and its rising stars. And given these challenging times all across the world, we will celebrate the island’s resilience. Its pride. Its ability to take a punch, and come back stronger than ever.
35 Miles wide. 135 miles long.
53 World champions.
Despite being an island of just four million inhabitants, Puerto Rico has produced more than its fair share of elite athletes. They’ve sent countless stars to the major leagues—but boxing is where they have achieved their greatest success—53 world champions and counting, as well as six Olympic medals, their most in any sport.
Why do Puerto Rico and pugilism go hand in hand? Because what it takes to be a premier fighter is what it takes to thrive on the island. In a 2017 New York Times op-ed in the wake of Hurricane Maria, Juan Giusti-Cordero wrote, “In Puerto Rico, we invented resilience.”
It’s that resilience that has catapulted a number of Boricuan fighters to the top of the sweet science. Sixto Escobar laid the blueprint when he became world bantamweight champion in the 1930s. He was perhaps the first star athlete of any kind to emerge from the island, and it grew the interest of boxing to an immense degree.
Carlos Ortiz, Jose Torres, Wilfredo Gomez, Hector Camacho, Wilfred Benitez, Felix Trinidad, Miguel Cotto all managed to find great international success. Many of them have topped fiery fight cards at Madison Square Garden on the weekend of the Puerto Rican Day Parade, and those have been some of the most voracious crowds the sport has ever seen. There are 11 Puerto Rican fighters currently in the International Boxing Hall of Fame.
Boxing is so important on the island that the government approved a law 25 years ago to provide a pension and other assistance to former fighters who have found themselves in troubled times. It feeds into the notion that Puerto Ricans take care of their own.
There are more than 35 gyms and 80 boxing clubs on the island, and an amateur program that has produced some of the sport’s best fighters. Today, Wilfredo Gomez, Miguel Cotto, and Ivan Calderon lead these programs, and have devoted their post-professional boxing lives to developing the next generation of champions.
That’s why Ring City USA is coming to the island in March 2021 for three shows. Will we celebrate Puerto Rico’s boxing heritage, and its rising stars. And given these challenging times all across the world, we will celebrate the island’s resilience. Its pride. Its ability to take a punch, and come back stronger than ever.
35 Miles wide. 135 miles long.
53 World champions.
Despite being an island of just four million inhabitants, Puerto Rico has produced more than its fair share of elite athletes. They’ve sent countless stars to the major leagues—but boxing is where they have achieved their greatest success—53 world champions and counting, as well as six Olympic medals, their most in any sport.
Why do Puerto Rico and pugilism go hand in hand? Because what it takes to be a premier fighter is what it takes to thrive on the island. In a 2017 New York Times op-ed in the wake of Hurricane Maria, Juan Giusti-Cordero wrote, “In Puerto Rico, we invented resilience.”
It’s that resilience that has catapulted a number of Boricuan fighters to the top of the sweet science. Sixto Escobar laid the blueprint when he became world bantamweight champion in the 1930s. He was perhaps the first star athlete of any kind to emerge from the island, and it grew the interest of boxing to an immense degree.
Carlos Ortiz, Jose Torres, Wilfredo Gomez, Hector Camacho, Wilfred Benitez, Felix Trinidad, Miguel Cotto all managed to find great international success. Many of them have topped fiery fight cards at Madison Square Garden on the weekend of the Puerto Rican Day Parade, and those have been some of the most voracious crowds the sport has ever seen. There are 11 Puerto Rican fighters currently in the International Boxing Hall of Fame.
Boxing is so important on the island that the government approved a law 25 years ago to provide a pension and other assistance to former fighters who have found themselves in troubled times. It feeds into the notion that Puerto Ricans take care of their own.
There are more than 35 gyms and 80 boxing clubs on the island, and an amateur program that has produced some of the sport’s best fighters. Today, Wilfredo Gomez, Miguel Cotto, and Ivan Calderon lead these programs, and have devoted their post-professional boxing lives to developing the next generation of champions.
That’s why Ring City USA is coming to the island in March 2021 for three shows. Will we celebrate Puerto Rico’s boxing heritage, and its rising stars. And given these challenging times all across the world, we will celebrate the island’s resilience. Its pride. Its ability to take a punch, and come back stronger than ever.
