EXPLOSIVE NICARAGUANS

10 COUNT In honour of Rámon González, here are 10 world champions from Nicaragua who left their mark on the boxing world

1 ALEXIS ARGÜELLO

‘The Explosive Thin Man’ was a world champion in three weight classes, winning the WBA featherweight title against Rubén Olivares in 1974, and holding the belt until beating Alfredo Escalera for the WBC superfeatherweight title in ’78. Alexis then dethroned Jim Watt for the lightweight title in ’81.

2 ROMÁN GONZÁLEZ

The first Nicaraguan to win world titles in four weight divisions, González won the WBA minimumweight title in 2008, the WBA light-flyweight title in 2011, the WBC flyweight title in 2014, the WBC super-flyweight title in 2016, and the WBA super-flyweight title in 2020.

3 ROSENDO ÁLVAREZ

Álvarez won the WBA minimumweight title in 1995, retained it five times, then later won the WBA lightflyweight belt in 2001 and again in 2004.

4 RICARDO MAYORGA

Mayorga stunned the boxing world with a knockout win against Vernon Forrest to become the world’s best welterweight. He repeated the trick in the rematch and also beat Fernando Vargas and Andrew Lewis.

5 LUIS ALBERTO PÉREZ

A former two-weight world champion who defeated Félix Machado in 2007 to win the IBF super-flyweight title – which he defended three times – and then beat Genaro García in 2007 for the IBF bantamweight belt.

6 EDDIE GAZO

Gazo won the WBA super-welterweight title when besting Miguel Ángel Castellini over 15 rounds in 1977. It was a belt he defended three times before losing it to Masashi Kudo in Japan.

7 FELIX ALVARADO

One of Nicaragua’s current hopes, hard-hitting Alvarado has held the IBF light-flyweight belt since stopping Randy Petalcorin inside seven rounds in 2018.

8 ADONIS RIVAS

Rivas shocked the unbeaten Diego Morales in 1999 to win the WBO super-flyweight title on his US debut. After losing that belt, Rivas dropped down in weight to win the WBO flyweight title against Jair Jimenez in 2002.

9 CRISTOFER ROSALES

Rosales won the vacant WBC flyweight title in 2018, beating Daigo Higa in Yokohama, Japan. He then had two fights in the UK, stopping Paddy Barnes in his first defence before losing the belt against Charlie Edwards.

10 JOSÉ ALFARO

Alfaro won the vacant WBA lightweight title against Thailand’s Prawet Singwancha in 2007. He later lost that belt to Yusuke Kobori, then went the distance with Mexican legend Erik Morales in 2010.