Sports in Puerto Rico can be traced from the ceremonial competitions amongst the pre-Columbian Native Americans of the Arawak (Taíno) tribes who inhabited the island to the modern era in which sports activities consist of an organized physical activity or skill carried out with a recreational purpose for competition. One of the sports which the Taíno's played was a ball game called "Batey". The "Batey" was played in "U" shaped fields two teams; however, unlike the ball games of the modern era, the winners were treated like heroes and the losers were sacrificed.
Puerto Rico competed at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, United States. 51 competitors, 43 men and 8 women, took part in 45 events in 13 sports.
Cuba competed at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. The nation returned to the Olympic Games after boycotting both the 1984 Games and the 1988 Games. 176 competitors, 126 men and 50 women, took part in 90 events in 16 sports.
Odlanier Solís Fonte is a Cuban professional boxer. He has challenged once for the WBC heavyweight title in 2011, and is a former top-rated contender in that division. As an amateur heavyweight, Solis was one of the most celebrated and decorated amateur stars of the 2000s, winning a gold medal at the 2004 Olympics, and three consecutive golds at the World Championships in 2001, 2003, and 2005.
Victor José Bisbal Melero is a Puerto Rican professional boxer. As an amateur, he won a gold medal at the 2002 Central American and Caribbean Games in the heavyweight division and bronze at the 2003 Pan American Games. He also participated at the 2004 Olympics in the super heavyweight division.
Kertson Manswell also known as The Pride of Tobago, is a heavyweight boxer from Trinidad and Tobago.
McWilliams Arroyo Acevedo is a Puerto Rican professional boxer who has challenged twice for a world flyweight title, in 2014 and 2016. As an amateur, Arroyo represented Puerto Rico in numerous international events.
Keith Tapia is a Puerto Rican professional boxer. He was born in Bronx, New York, where he lived his childhood as part of the large Nuyorican community; he began boxing there and represented the United States for few international tournaments, in the process winning bronze at the 2006 Cadet World Championships. In 2007, Tapia appealed to his Puerto Rican heritage and ethnicity and changed his Olympic nationality, representing Puerto Rico until his amateur retirement in 2011. Under the Puerto Rican flag, he won gold at the 2007 AIBA Cadet World Championships and other international tournaments, while winning the heavyweight national championship locally. On November 18, 2011, Tapia made his professional debut, now boxing out of Carolina, Puerto Rico.
Abner Cotto Román is a Puerto Rican professional boxer who currently competes in the lightweight division. He is a member of the Cotto family, which has produced a professional world champion and multiple amateur medalists. As an amateur, Cotto represented Puerto Rico in international competition. The pugilist compiled several national championships and recognitions, including his division's silver medal at the 2007 Pan American Games.
Carlos Negrón Colón is a professional boxer who competes in the heavyweight division. As an amateur, he represented Puerto Rico at numerous international events. Among the achievements reached during this stage of his career are winning bronze medal at the 2006 Central American and Caribbean Games and winning gold in the first Olympic qualifier tournament.
José Pedraza González is a Puerto Rican professional boxer and former two-weight world champion. He held the IBO super featherweight title in 2014, the IBF super featherweight title from 2015 to 2017, and the WBO lightweight title in 2018. As an amateur he represented Puerto Rico, winning medals in multiple international competitions. Among the awards he achieved are a bronze medal at the 2007 Pan American Games, silver at the 2009 World Championships and gold at the 2010 Central American and Caribbean Games, as well as participation in the 2008 Summer Olympics.
Puerto Rico competed in the 2008 Summer Olympics which was held in Beijing, People's Republic of China from August 8 to August 24, 2008. The American territory with a population of four million people qualified 22 athletes in eight different sports. The appearance of the Puerto Rican delegation at the Beijing Olympics marked the commonwealth's sixteenth consecutive appearance at the Summer Olympics, and its twenty-second appearance at any Olympic games, since its debut at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London, England. Of its competitors participating in events that involve progression by heats, six athletes advanced at least one round in their events, and two advanced at least two rounds, with Asunción Ocasio almost medaling bronze in taekwondo. However, there were no Puerto Rican medalists at the Beijing Olympics. McWilliams Arroyo, a boxer, bore Puerto Rico's flag at the ceremonies.
Kenny Galarza Arocho is a professional boxer. He competes in the light welterweight division, and represented Puerto Rico at numerous events as an amateur. Galarza won seven national championships locally and earned several recognitions in international competition. These include: two gold medals at the Junior Olympics Invitational, silver at the 2005 Pan American Boxing Championships and bronze in the 2006 Central American and Caribbean Games. Prior to the 2007 Pan American Games, Galarza closed his amateur career, signing with Seminole Warriors Boxing. He debuted defeating Jesse Francisco on May 16, 2007. This victory marked the beginning of a knockout streak, which has lasted for thirteen contests. On September 18, 2009, Galarza won his first professional title, defeating Joshua Allotey to become the first interim light welterweight champion of the North American Boxing Organization. Amassing a perfect record and knockout ratio earned him inclusion in other sanctioning bodies, including the World Boxing Organization (11th), WBO Latino (7th), World Boxing Association's FEDECARIBE (6th) and World Boxing Foundation's International (10th) rankings.
Puerto Rico participated at the 2003 Pan American Games, held in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, from August 1 to August 17, 2003.
Erislandy Savón Cotilla is a Cuban amateur heavyweight boxer. He won the 91 kg/201 lbs title at the 2008 Youth World Amateur Boxing Championships, the 2009 Pan American Championships at Super Heavyweight and also the AIBA World Boxing Championships 2015 and 2017 in Heavyweight.
Yenebier Adelina Guillén Benítez is a Dominican boxer who competes as a 75 kilogram middleweight, Pan American Champion and Female Boxer in 2013 and Silver medal at the 2011 Pan American Games. She also won the gold medal at the 2008 Central American and Caribbean Championship, 2013 Bolivarian Games and 2014 Central American and Caribbean Games.
Jeyvier Jesús Cintrón Ocasio is a Puerto Rican professional boxer who challenged for the WBO junior bantamweight title in 2019. As an amateur, Cintrón represented Puerto Rico at the 2012 and 2016 Olympics as a flyweight.
Juan Gabriel Medina Herrad is a Dominican boxer who competes as a 48 kg light flyweight. He won the bronze medal at the 2010 World Combat Games and the 2011 Pan American Games.
Mark Simmons is a Canadian retired heavyweight boxer who represented Canada at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia. He was also a five-time Canadian National Champion, recording 201 wins in 241 recorded bouts.
David Light is a Professional Boxer from New Zealand. He competed in the men's heavyweight division at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow where he won the silver medal against Canada's Samir El-Mais. Light is the current WBO Oriental cruiserweight champion after defeating Mark Flanagan by unanimous decision on 18 March 2019.
