Rogelio Espiño, considered by far the most important and successful boxing promoter of Century XXI in Panama, remembers his first boxing card held at the “Yuyin” Luzcando Gymnasium in Betania, on Saturday October 28, 2000.

In a 30-minute interview in Spanish published on YouTube channel Boxeo de Panama, Espiño revealed how he started in boxing to help Pedro “Rockero” Alcazar become a world champion, the very sad moments he faced when Alcazar passed after a loss in Las Vegas, how he got robbed several times by the Panamanian Sports Institute (Pandeportes), why he stopped importing Venezuelan fighters and many other details, about achievements and disappointments during his 20-year career.

“I feel very proud when I look back and see all we have done for boxing which is way more than what we were supposed to do. We developed the careers of the last 10 Panamanian world champions and almost all of the title contenders but the most important thing is that we helped young fighters from all around the country to become better citizens and human beings,” said the creator of Promociones y Eventos del Istmo.

“I supported boxing with the profits from my personal business which resulted seriously affected, so I´m not in the condition to keep investing in boxing if the government doesn’t help or creates the conditions for private sponsors to support us again, especially after this Pandemic situation,” Espiño said. “If something very important doesn’t happen I don’t see myself returning to boxing and my contribution to the sport could be considered another victim of the Pandemic.”

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