A heavyweight fight between Kingsley Ibeh and Gerald Washington will serve as the main event on September 20 in San Salvador, the capital of El Salvador, as part of the country’s intention to host more professional boxing and combat sports events.
According to BoxRec, there was one other pro boxing event in El Salvador in 2025 (held last month), two in 2024, one in 2023, three in 2022 and one in 2021. Shows were sporadic in the previous decades: 11 total in the 2010s and eight in the 2000s.
Ibeh is promoted by Toro Promotions, which is staging the event. Ibeh is a 31-year-old from Nigeria now living in Arizona. The 6-foot-4 fighter has an athletic background: he is a former Canadian pro football player, and Ike Ibeabuchi is his cousin.
Ibeh, 15-2-1 (13 KOs), lost a split decision in his second pro fight in October 2019, fought to a draw with Guido Vianello in October 2020, and was knocked out in six rounds by a young Jared Anderson in February 2021.
Since then, Ibeh has gone 10-0. His most recent victory was this past January, when he put away the 17-6-2 Scott Alexander in the first round.
Washington, 21-6-1 (14 KOs), is a 43-year-old from California. Although he stands 6-foot-6, he didn’t quite measure up to other top heavyweights during his career.
Washington is a former football player himself who made it as far as the practice squad for a pair of NFL teams. He started donning the gloves in the paid ranks in 2012, fought to a draw with Amir Mansour in 2015, outpointed Eddie Chambers in 2016 and stopped an aged Ray Austin that same year.
When Andrzej Wawrzyk failed a test for performance enhancing drugs and was pulled from a title shot against Deontay Wilder in 2017, Washington stepped in. The fight was close on the scorecards after four rounds, but Wilder viciously stopped him in the fifth. Washington has gone 3-5 since then, failing to make it to the final bell against Jarrell Miller, Adam Kownacki, Charles Martin and Ali Eren Demirezen, and losing a decision to Derek Chisora in 2023.
Washington scored an upset knockout over Robert Helenius in 2019, between his losses to Kownacki and Martin.
In his most recent appearance, Washington dispatched the 4-2 Carlos Eduardo Cardenas Ramirez in three rounds in March.
Also scheduled for the September 20 card in San Salvador:
Junior lightweight Austin Brooks, 13-0-1 (6 KOs), will take on Maxwell Montez, 12-3-1 (7 KOs).
Junior lightweight Nilo Guerrero, 10-0 (7 KOs), will face William Vargas, 9-5 (3 KOs).
Bantamweight Andrey Bonilla, 4-0 (3 KOs), will meet Isaac Martinez Barragan, 6-0 (2 KOs).
Bonilla’s twin brother, junior bantamweight Ari Bonilla, 4-0 (2 KOs), will take on Asbel Bolaina, 6-3 (0 KOs).
There will be a pair of heavyweight bouts between Alexander Flores, 19-5-1 (17 KOs), and Juan Torres, 11-8-1 (4 KOs); and Jack May, 10-1(9 KOs), and Abraham Pascual, 15-11 (13 KOs).
And junior welterweight Samuel Contreras, 2-0 (1 KO), will face Cristopher Ramirez Moreno, 4-4 (3 KOs).
David Greisman, who has covered boxing since 2004, is on Twitter @FightingWords2. David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” is available on Amazon.
