Carlos “El Topo” Gerena Allende, a former Puerto Rican pro boxer who once fought at the Olympics, was killed early Monday on a highway in Bayamón, Puerto Rico. He was 55.
Police say it happened around 2 a.m. on Oct. 26, 2026, at kilometer 13.1 of PR-2, in the Hato Tejas area of Bayamón. Two vehicles were involved. Early police information says Gerena was crossing the road when a vehicle hit him. The driver allegedly left without stopping to help.
Then a gray Toyota Yaris came along the same highway. Its driver apparently did not see Gerena lying on the pavement, and the car ran over him. How he ended up on the road is still under investigation.
Gerena was one of Puerto Rico’s best amateur fighters. At the 1991 Pan American Games in Havana, he won a silver medal at 54 kilograms, about 119 pounds. A year later he fought at the Olympics in Barcelona in the featherweight division.
He turned pro in 1993 and fought until 2003. He finished with 38 wins, 30 of them by knockout, and six losses in 44 fights. He also won the World Boxing Council Continental Americas super-featherweight title. In 2002, he fought Mexico’s Orlando Salido, who later became a world champion.
Former world champion John John Molina paid tribute after Gerena’s name became public. He wrote that Puerto Rican boxing was in mourning, and he called Gerena a friend and a champion.
Agent Reinaldo Tellado of the Bayamón Highway Patrol Division did the first investigation. The case was sent to the Homicide Division of the Bayamón Criminal Investigation Corps. Police are still working to piece together what happened.
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