Pictured: Rosendo Alvarez whose Bufalo Boxing Promotions ushered boxing back Saturday night


On March 19, a three-bout professional boxing card was held in the German federal state of Nordrhein-Westfalen. Those bouts (see below) were the last fought anywhere in the world until this past Saturday night.

With the dangers of the novel coronavirus clearly recognized, a card promoted by former two-divisional world champion Rosendo Alvarez was held at the Gimnasio Alexis Arguello in Managua, Nicaragua with fans and officials wearing masks, undergoing non-contact temperature taking, and adhering to social distancing. The fighters also wore masks until their respective bouts were to begin and donned them again once their bouts were finished.

Boxing returning in Nicaragua seemed like a less risky endeavor than it would have been in many other countries. The Central American nation, with a population of roughly 6.5 million, had had only 12 confirmed cases of COVID-19 (with three resultant fatalities) prior to Saturday (a 13th case has since been reported). The country has so far been very fortunate to have avoided a widespread outbreak of the disease but there is concern that what Nicaragua has experienced may only be the earliest stage of the pandemic. The fans, the officials, and the fighters were aware of this and took the aforementioned steps to protect themselves.

In the card's main event, lightweight Robin Zamora, once ranked by the WBA as a top 15 featherweight, won his entertaining rematch with Ramiro Blanco by unanimous decision. The other contests saw Freddy Fonseca, fighting as a junior welterweight, stop Alain Aguilar; Byron Castellon finally emerge victorious against Eliezer Gazo; Bryan Perez snap a long winless streak by halting Lesther Lara; undefeated Gabriel Escalante TKO woefully overmatched Mario Mairena; Edwin Tercero outpoint Franco Gutierrez for the second time; Harvy Calero upset Jordan Escobar; and debuting Angel Blass hold Harold Ardon to a draw.


Thursday, March 19- Wuppertal, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany-

Cruiserweight Bout-
Tim Voessing (3-0, 2 KOs)
Unan. Dec. 8
Dominik Tietz (6-17, 4 KOs)
- The scores were 80-72, 79-72, and 80-72.

Junior Middleweight Bout-
Ali El Said (4-1-1, 3 KOs)
TKO-1 1:54
Sandro Luetke Bordewick (7-16, 5 KOs)

Super Middleweight Bout-
Jay Spencer (11-1, 7 KOs)
Unan. Dec. 4
Dustin Amman (4-1, 3 KOs)
- The scores were 39-38, 39-37, and 39-37.


Saturday, April 25- Managua, Nicaragua-

Lightweight Bout-
Robin Zamora (16-7, 1 NC, 8 KOs)
Unan. Dec. 8
Ramiro Blanco (18-8-3, 10 KOs)
- Zamora weighed in at 135; Blanco at 134 1/2.
- The scores were 77-75, 78-74, and 77-75.
- Zamora is now 2-0 versus Blanco having won their first bout by a 2nd round TKO last October 26.
- Blanco has now suffered five consecutive defeats and is 1-6 in his last 7 contests.

Junior Welterweight Bout-
Freddy Fonseca (28-5-1, 1 ND, 19 KOs)
TKO-5 0:10
Alain Aguilar (8-8-2, 1 KO)
- Fonseca weighed in at 140 1/2; Aguilar at 139 1/2.
- Aguilar did not answer the bell for the 5th round. BoxRec lists the result as Fonseca winning by RTD-4 3:00 but the official result as per the Nicaraguan commission (Comision Nicaraguenese de Boxeo Profesional) was Fonseca victorious by TKO at 0:10 of the fifth round.

Non-title Minimumweight Bout-
Byron Castellon (WBC #16; 15-13-3, 3 NCs, 2 KOs)
Unan. Dec. 6
WBC Continental Latino champion Eliezer Gazo (WBC #12; 18-11-2, 2 NCs, 3 KOs)
- Castellon won by three 59-55 scores. He is now 1-4-1-1 NC versus Gazo.

Featherweight Bout-
Bryan Perez (12-11-1, 2 NCs, 11 KOs)
TKO-2 2:46
Lesther Lara (16-11-2, 7 KOs)
- Perez floored Lara twice in round 2 to snap his 10-bout winless streak (0-7-1-2 NCs).

Welterweight Bout-
Gabriel Escalante (13-0, 7 KOs)
TKO-5
Mario Mairena (2-20-1, 1 NC, 1 KO)

Featherweight Bout-
Edwin Tercero (16-11-1, 4 KOs)
Unan. Dec. 6
Franco Gutierrez (10-4, 6 KOs)
- Tercero is now 2-0 versus Gutierrez. He had won their January 26, 2019 bout, also a six-rounder, via a split verdict.

Flyweight Bout-
Harvy Calero (7-7-2, 1 KO)
Unan. Dec. 6
Jordan "Tanquesito" Escobar (15-11-2, 1 NC, 3 KOs)
- This was former WBA Fedecento super flyweight champion Escobar's third consecutive loss and his fourth in his last 5 bouts.
- Calero had lost three consecutive bouts and 4 of his last 5 coming into this bout.

Minimumweight Bout-
Harold Ardon (1-0-1, 1 KO)
Draw 4
Angel Blass (0-0-1)