Let’s start by saying (for those that don’t follow this sport) there’s two types of boxing competition, the “amateur” boxing now referred to as Olympic boxing, and professional boxing; we have athletes competing in both amateur and professional boxing in Costa Rica. For those of you wondering what the difference is between one and the other, Olympic boxers fight with protective headgear and they use gloves with a white stripe, a punch is considered valid when the boxer connects with the white portion of the gloves. Usually amateur fights consist only of three rounds of 3 minutes each. When it comes to professional boxing, there is no headgear and fights can be of 4/6/8/10 or 12 rounds of 3 minutes each, usually inexperienced boxers start out fighting 4 or 6 round fights , championship fights are always 12 round fights. In the case of female combats rounds last 2 minutes and championship bouts are of 10 rounds.

History of boxing in Costa Rica

The history of boxing in Costa Rica starts taking shape in 1969 when the Costa Rican Association of Amateur Boxing is created; since that date the Association managed to expand to a national level working with the help of the local sports committees in each county; currently there are over 45 boxing schools in the country and an estimate of over one thousand athletes practicing this sport. The priority of the Association has been the participation in National and International Sporting Games and Tournaments in the Olympic style.

When it comes to professional boxing even though there are Professional Boxing Associations registered, they do not have the structure or the organization to help promote boxing in a professional level; despite this, with the help of international organizations and some local promoters Costa Rica has managed to produce quality professional boxers.

Costa Rica’s boxing figures

The Central America region actually has a great boxing culture, especially in the case of Nicaragua and Panama; in Costa Rica, Jesus “Tuzo” Portuguéz had the honor of being the first Costa Rican boxer to qualify in a global ranking and he fought five times in the Madison Square Garden in New York. Humberto Aranda and Carl Davis also are known names in the boxing history of Costa Rica; they both were World Title contestants , although they were not able to get the victory in their title matches.

Costa Rica’s goal of having a boxing world champion came of the hand of a female fighter, Hanna Gabriels, who won the title belt in 2009 in the welterweight division, she then moved up in weight, won the World Female Super Welterweight title, which she defended successfully several times, she lost it in 2013 and won it back in 2014; she is today the World Female Super Welterweight Champion recognized as such by the WBO (World Boxing Organization) and the WBA (World Boxing Association). Her husband, Bryan Vasquez, was the super featherweight interim champion in two occasions but so far hasn’t been able to get the world championship belt; yet he has been ranked among the best in his division and has fought in the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, in the undercard of Pacquiao vs. Bradley and at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York as the co-main event to Amir Khan vs. Chris Algieri.

Costa Rica hosted the WBA’s “KO to Drugs” event at the National Gym back in 2011 where boxing figures such as Don King were present.

Just a few weeks back Francisco Fonseca became the IBF Inter-Continental Super Featherweight Champion, his career is just starting and he hopes to get a shot at a world title soon; female fighter Yokasta Valle is fighting again October 14th here in Costa Rica, facing a Mexican fighter, and hoping that if she wins this fight and before the end of the year she too gets the opportunity to dispute a world championship

We hope to hear of more Costa Rican boxers fighting in international events soon, there’s no doubt that even though this sport does not receive the attention it deserves in Costa Rica and is lacking the necessary structure to help raise the level of the current fighters, the country is not short on talent.