Wilfredo Gómez Rivera, sometimes referred to as Bazooka Gómez, is a Puerto Rican former professional boxer and three-time world champion. He is frequently mentioned among the best Puerto Rican boxers of all time by sports journalists and analysts, along with Félix Trinidad, Miguel Cotto, Wilfred Benítez, Esteban De Jesús, Edwin Rosario, and Carlos Ortíz.
Juan Laporte, also known as Juan La Porte is a former boxer who was born in Guayama, Puerto Rico. In 1982, La Porte won the vacant WBC featherweight title, forcing undefeated Colombian Mario "Martillo" Miranda to quit on his stool. Throughout his 22-year-long career, La Porte fought some of the greatest fighters of each decade, including Hall of Fame members Salvador Sanchez, Eusebio Pedroza, Azumah Nelson, Wilfredo Gomez, Barry McGuigan, Kostya Tszyu & Julio Cesar Chavez Sr. He retired in 1999 with a record of 40–16, with many of his losses being highly competitive, and sometimes controversial, affairs.
Edwin "Chapo" Rosario Rivera was a Puerto Rican professional boxer who competed from 1979 to 1997. He is a world champion in two weight classes, having held the WBC lightweight title from 1983 to 1984, the WBA lightweight title twice between 1986 and 1990, and the WBA super lightweight title from 1991 to 1992. Known for his exceptional boxing skills, dynamite right hand and rock solid chin Rosario's final record stands at 47-6
Carlos De León, also known as "Sugar" De Leon, was a Puerto Rican boxer who made history by becoming the first cruiserweight to win the world title twice. Subsequently, he kept breaking his own record for the most times as cruiserweight champion by regaining the title on two further occasions.
Leonardo Cruz, better known in the world of boxing as Leo Cruz, was a world Jr. Featherweight champion from the Dominican Republic. He is the younger brother of former lightweight world champion of boxing, Carlos Cruz.
Wilfredo Vázquez Olivera is a Puerto Rican former professional boxer who competed from 1981 to 2002. He held world championships in three weight classes, including the WBA bantamweight title from 1987 to 1988, the WBA super bantamweight title from 1992 to 1995, and the WBA and lineal featherweight titles from 1996 to 1998. His son, Wilfredo Vázquez Jr., is also a former boxer and world champion.
Alfredo "El Salsero" Escalera is a Puerto Rican former professional boxer and is the former World Boxing Council Super Featherweight world champion. A native of Carolina, his nickname was "Salsero" because he was a fan of Salsa music. Escalera is also a 2023 Florida Boxing Hall of Fame Inductee.
Boxing in the 1980s was filled with important fights, events and personalities that shaped the sport. Boxing in the 1980s was shaped by many different situations, such as the continuous corporate battles between the different world sanctioning organizations, the void left by Muhammad Ali as the sport's ambassador and consequent search for a new boxing hero, the continuous presence of Don King as the sport's most famous promoter, the surge of rival promoters as Bob Arum, Butch Lewis and Murad Muhammad, and major rule changes. In 1986, Mike Tyson emerged as a fresh new face in the heavyweight division, which had seen a decline in champion quality level after Ali's retirement and, later on, after longtime WBC ruler Larry Holmes' prime. In addition, the IBF and WBO began operating.
During the 1970s, boxing was characterized by dominating champions and history-making rivalries. The decade had many superstars, who also had fierce rivals. Alexis Argüello, for example, who won the world Featherweight and Jr. Lightweight titles in the '70s, had to overcome Alfredo Escalera twice before the decade was over.
Yasutsune Uehara is a former professional boxer and former WBA and lineal super featherweight champion. He is one of the few Japanese boxers to have won the world title fighting outside Japan.
Benjamin Villaflor is a Filipino former professional boxer who competed from 1966 to 1976. He was a two-time WBA and The Ring super-featherweight champion, having held it from 1972 to 1973 and from 1973 to 1976.
Benedicto Villablanca is a former professional boxer who came close to becoming Chile's first professional boxing world champion.
Roger Mayweather was an American professional boxer who competed from 1981 to 1999 and later on a boxing trainer. He was a two-division world champion, having held the WBA and The Ring super featherweight titles from 1983 to 1984, and the WBC light welterweight title from 1987 to 1989. Additionally he held the IBO light welterweight title in 1994, and the IBO welterweight title from 1994 to 1995.
Enrique "Kiko" Solis is a former boxer from Puerto Rico, who in 1978 challenged Eusebio Pedroza of Panama for Pedroza's WBA's recognized world Featherweight championship. Solis is a member of a prolific Puerto Rican boxing family, his brothers being former WBA and Ring Magazine world Bantamweight champion Julian Solís, former WBC world Junior Lightweight title challenger Rafael Solis and Santos Solis, who once fought Wilfred Benítez as a professional and went ten rounds with him. He is from Caimito, Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico.
Jorge Luján is a Panamanian who was a professional boxer and fought many top-flight boxers and several champions during the 1970s and 1980s. Luján is the former Lineal and WBA Bantamweight world champion. He was managed by Aurelio Cortez.
Alberto Josué Machado Becerril is a Puerto Rican professional boxer who held the WBA (Regular) super featherweight title from 2017 to 2019. Machado is ranked as the world's third best active super featherweight by The Ring magazine, the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board, and Boxrec.
Danilo Cabrera is a former professional boxer from the Dominican Republic. Known in professional boxing circles as "Cuero Duro", he fought for world championships three times, losing to International Boxing Hall of Fame members Barry McGuigan, Azumah Nelson and Julio Cesar Chavez Sr., respectively.
Jonathan Oquendo Arnaldi is a Puerto Rican professional boxer who has challenged twice for a world title: the WBA (Regular) featherweight title in 2015, and the WBO junior lightweight title in September 2020. He has held multiple regional titles, including the WBO–NABO junior featherweight title in 2010 and the junior lightweight version from 2018 to 2019.
Miguel Montilla is a former professional boxer in the Junior Welterweight or Super Lightweight division who fought three times unsuccessfully for world championships. A hard hitter with good boxing skills, Montilla was popular in the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and the United States, all countries where he fought several times. He also fought in Panama, the United States Virgin Islands and Colombia
The history of the sport of boxing in Puerto Rico is a varied and extensive one. Boxing is a major sport in the Caribbean country, and the sport has produced many champions for the island, both in the amateur and professional ranks, and among men and women fighters.
You may watch Samuel Serrano vs Benedicto Villablanca on YouTube