Alberto Mercado
Alberto Mercado Monserrate (born January 2, 1961) is a former Jr. Featherweight boxer 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 Colombia. 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 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 for a while . Mercado was one of only three American citizens to participate in the 1980 Olympics celebrated in Moscow, Soviet Union, bearing the flag of and competing in boxing for Puerto Rico after having won the gold medal at the 1979 Pan American Games. The other two were also representants from Puerto Rico and boxers: Luis Pizarro and José Angel Molina. 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: 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. Mercado worked as a fireman in Dade County, Florida, for many years. He resided in Cayey during his years as a top boxing contender. He  had a professional record of 31 wins, 14 losses and 1 draw (tie), with 27 wins by knockout. Mercado currently works at the gym of the University of Puerto Rico at Cayey. There are plans to build a small museum in Cayey dedicated to him. (in Spanish)