Alberto Mercado Monserrate (born January 2, 1961) is a former Jr.

Featherweight Featherweight is a weight class in the combat sports of boxing, kickboxing, mixed martial arts, and Greco-Roman wrestling. Boxing Professional boxing History A featherweight boxer weighs in at a limit of . In the early days of the division, ...

boxer Boxer most commonly refers to: *Boxer (boxing), a competitor in the sport of boxing * Boxer (dog), a breed of dog Boxer or boxers may also refer to: Animal kingdom * Boxer crab * Boxer shrimp, a small group of decapod crustaceans * Boxer snipe ee ...

who was on the verge of fighting for a world title at least twice in his career.

Amateur boxing career

Mercado started boxing as an amateur at the age of 12, immediately winning a nationwide competition known as the "Olimpiadas Jíbaras de la Vivienda" ("Housing Complex Hillbillies' Olympics"). This motivated him to keep boxing as an amateur and hoping to win a world title in the future. In 1978, Mercado represented Puerto Rico at the 1978 Central American and Caribbean Games held at

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. He won gold at these games and participated in a world cup tournament. Hoping to become the first Puerto Rican ever to win a gold medal at an Olympic Games, Mercado moved to

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

periodically; there he trained hard towards that goal. Around that era, Mercado befriended and worked alongside one of Jose Celso Barbosa's children; he criticized the Puerto Rican government which was led by Carlos Romero Barcelo of the Statehood supporting New Progressive Party and was fired from his job and taken by Puerto Rico Olympic Committee President German Rieckehoff Sampayo to live in

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

for a while. Mercado was one of only three American citizens to participate in the 1980 Olympics celebrated in

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, bearing the flag of and competing in boxing for

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

after having won the gold medal at the

1979 Pan American Games The 1979 Pan American Games, officially the VIII Pan American Games () and commonly known as San Juan 1979, were a multi-sport event governed by the Panam Sports Organization (PASO), and were held in San Juan, Puerto Rico, from July 1 to Jul ...

. The other two were also representants from Puerto Rico and boxers: Luis Pizarro and

José Angel Molina José Angel Molina (born October 19, 1958) is a retired boxer from Puerto Rico, who competed in the men's light-middleweight division (– 71 kg) during the late 1970s and early 1980s. He represented his native country at the 1980 Sum ...

. During a 2021 Interview with Cuban-Puerto Rican journalist Jesus "Chu" Garcia on

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, Mercado remembered how he and his fellow Puerto Rican boxers Pizarro and Molina were the first delegates of any kind to arrive in Russia and how he flew on

Aeroflot PJSC AeroflotRussian Airlines (, ), commonly known as Aeroflot ( or ; , , ), is the flag carrier and the largest airline of Russia. Aeroflot is headquartered in the Central Administrative Okrug, Moscow, with its hub being Sheremetyevo Interna ...

from Cuba to Russia to get there.

1980 Olympic results

Below is the record of Alberto Mercado, a Puerto Rican boxer who competed in the flyweight division at the 1980 Moscow Olympics: * Round of 32: bye * Round of 16: lost to Gilberto Roman (Mexico) referee stopped contest

Professional career

In the professional ranks Mercado had a winning record, but also had some bad luck. He lost to Refugio Rojas in a USBA Featherweight title try on points by split decision, and on a fight to decide the IBF's #1 challenger, he lost by a knockout in 7 rounds to eventual world champion Antonio Rivera, after leading the fight on all scorecards at the end of round 6. Mercado trained at the famous Bairoa gym at Caguas and he was friends with gym-mate Juan Carazo.

Later life

He had a professional record of 31 wins, 14 losses and 1 draw (tie), with 27 wins by

knockout A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking, ...

. Mercado currently works at the gym of the

University of Puerto Rico at Cayey The University of Puerto Rico at Cayey (UPR-Cayey) is a public university in Cayey, Puerto Rico. It is part of the University of Puerto Rico System. It was initially founded as a regional school in 1967 and became a college in 1969. It was award ...

. There were plans to build a small museum in Cayey dedicated to him; that museum, named "Casa Museo Alberto Mercado", was opened in 2018. Alberto has three kids, who are Wilnelia Mercado, Gloribel Mercado and Luis Mercado. (in Spanish)

Health problems

Mercado discussed in 2021 that he suffers epilepsy, sudden memory loss and balance problems as a consequence of his boxing career, but takes medication to control these health problems.

References