Global InformationList of Puerto Rican boxing world champions information
In Puerto Rico, boxing is considered a major sport, having produced more amateur and professional world champions than any other sport in its history.[1] Puerto Rico ranks 5th worldwide between countries with most boxing world champions in history (only behind USA, Mexico, UK and Japan).[2] Also, in year 2004, became the first country to have had, at least, one world champion in every single one of the 17 current boxing weight divisions throughout the history (Provided that John Ruiz is considered as Puerto Rican and not counting Bridgerweight division).[3][4] Puerto Rico ranks first in champions per capita with an astonishing 16 in every one million people.[3] February 9, 2008 was the first time that boxers from Puerto Rico had held three of the four major welterweights titles (World Boxing Association, International Boxing Federation and World Boxing Organization) when Carlos Quintana defeated Paul Williams to join Miguel Cotto, and Kermit Cintron as champions in the division.[5]
Individually, Puerto Rican world champions have earned numerous achievements. These include, Wilfredo Gómez's record for most defenses in the super bantamweight division and for most successive knockouts by a titleholder. On March 6, 1976, at age 17, Wilfred Benítez became the youngest world champion in the history of the sport. On September 3, 1994, Daniel Jiménez established a world record for the quickest knockout in a championship fight, defeating Harald Geier in 17 seconds (currently the second fastest).[6] Juan Manuel López is sixth in this category, having defeated César Figueroa in 47 seconds during his first defense.[6] Ossie Ocasio was the first World Boxing Association (WBA) cruiserweight champion, winning it on February 13, 1982. This accomplishment was mimicked in other organizations: José de Jesús, José Ruíz Matos, John John Molina and Héctor Camacho did it in their respective divisions in the World Boxing Organization (WBO). On June 7, 2014, Miguel Cotto made history by becoming Puerto Rico's first four-division world champion.[7] In women's boxing, Amanda Serrano was the first IBF super featherweight champion and the first Puerto Rican boxer (male or female) to win major world titles in seven different weight classes (Camacho made it first, but four of his titles were considered minor world titles). Also, in 2023, Serrano was the first Puerto Rican to be Undisputed world champion in a single division (featherweight), having won the four belts on each of the major boxing organizations (WBO,WBC,IBF and later WBA).[8]
- ^ "Puerto Rico, país de tradición boxística" (in Spanish). Univision. 2007-09-13. Archived from the original on 2009-05-22. Retrieved 2008-10-08.
- ^ "World Champions By Nationality". BoxRec. Archived from the original on 2018-11-22. Retrieved 2017-04-23.
- ^ a b José Torres (2004-12-15). "Fábrica de campeones" (in Spanish). ESPN Deportes. Archived from the original on 2009-05-23. Retrieved 2008-10-06.
- ^ "El Consejo Mundial de Boxeo rinde un homenaje a Peñagarícano y Chade" (in Spanish). Yahoo!. 2008-07-31. Retrieved 2008-10-08.
- ^ Sebastián Contursi (2008-06-08). "La época dorada" (in Spanish). ESPN Deportes. Retrieved 2008-08-15.
- ^ a b José A. Sánchez Fournier (2008-10-06). "Deportes". En un dos por tres (in Spanish). Puerto Rico: El Nuevo Día. p.97
- ^ "Miguel Cotto 'listened to the game plan' to beat Sergio Martinez". The National. 8 June 2014.
- ^ "Amanda-Serrano ties Cotto, demolishes Lazar for WBO title". BoxingScene. 19 October 2016.