Thousands Show Up to Mass Boxing Class in Mexico City

By: Andrew Zhang

Last Saturday, 14,299 residents of Mexico City gathered in Zocalo, the main

square in Mexico City, to follow 15 current and retired boxers in a mass boxing class.

This event completely blew the previous record-holder, Moscow, out of the

water in terms of a number of guests. Moscow only drew 3,250 participants in its Red

Square which was, around four times less than the event in Zocalo.

But the event still underperformed. While 40,000 people registered,

only15,000-20,000 were expected to show up due to limited space in the Zocalo. In

the end, only around 14,000 showed up.

Many familiar faces in the Mexican boxing community were present. These

included Erik “El Terrible” Morales, Andy Ruiz Jr., Oscar Valdez, Jackie Nava,

Humberto “Chiquita” González, Miguel Berchelt, Jose “Pipino” Cuevas, Alfonso

Zamora, Jose Luis Bueno, Jose Antonio “Jaguar” Aguirre, Ganigan Lopez, Adrian

“Confesor” Hernandez, Mariana Juarez, Ana Maria Torres and Alan David Picasso.

The event must have been a beauty to view from the sky, with participants

wearing shirts symbolizing the colors of the Mexican flag. “It will be a great

multicolored party because together we will form the Mexican flag with these

beautiful shirts that each and every one of the participants in the Massive Boxing

Class will have,” said Javier Hidalgo Ponce, the director of the Sports Institute of

Mexico City on June 3.

The class itself was very rigorous, with only 2 water breaks, each lasting 20

seconds.

All of this was planned out. They began with a tai-chi warmup, followed by a

review of basic boxing movements, and ended with a practice of various

combinations of blows.

Overall, the event left a lasting impact on the residents of Mexico City. “There is a

very beautiful energy — very joyful, a lot of joy,” said Carmen Pérez a 16-year-old

who participated in the event.

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