Enrique "Maravilla" Pinder, Former Panamanian Champ, Passes Away
By Gabriel F. Cordero
PhilBoxing.com
Mon, 17 Jun 2024
Enrique Pinder, the fifth world champion that Panama had, has died in Panama City. In 1972, he defeated the Mexican Rafael Herrera and won the world bantamweight championships of the World Boxing Association (WBA) and the World Boxing Council (WBC).
Raised in the iconic and legendary Marañon neighborhood in Panama City, where many migrants who came to work on the construction of the Panama Canal lived, he had his best years of life. This led him to try to be a jockey at the renowned Presidente Remon Racecourse, but in the end, he changed horse riding to become a professional boxer, although he was always passionate about horse racing.
Pinder began his amateur career with about 50 fights and then entered professionalism between the United States and Panama City. However, his career strengthened in Colón with the remembered manager Isaac Kresch, who made him train with Ernesto 'Ñato' Marcel and Orlando Amores. He achieved great boxing nights at the Colón Arena, eventually becoming the NABF bantamweight champion, which projected him to become one of the best bantamweights in the world at that time.
Pinder had great speed in his arms and legs, and a high boxing school, but he didn't hit hard and had no stamina, as he was a flyweight raised to bantamweight.
On July 29, 1972, at the Antiguo Gimnasio Nuevo Panama (Roberto Duran) before 17,000 fans, the Panamanian Enrique Pinder defeated the Mexican world champion Rafael Herrera by unanimous decision in 15 rounds, snatching the WBC and WBA bantamweight titles.
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