Mexico City sets Guinness World Record for holding the largest boxing class

Mexico City on Saturday set a new world record for hosting the largest boxing class, with a session that had a whopping 14,299 people in attendance.

The record, which was certified by a Guinness World Records team at the site, was announced by Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum, who posted a video expressing her gratitude to “the champions and those who made this great triumph possible.”

The massive session on Saturday took place at the Mexican capital city’s central plaza, the Zocalo plaza, and began with a basic tai-chi warm-up, followed by a review of basic boxing moves, ending with practice sessions on various combinations of attacks.

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The session was led by several professional boxers including Mariana ‘La Barby’ Juarez, a three-time World Boxing Council (WBC) champion in the flyweight, super flyweight, and bantamweight categories, two-time WBC flyweight champion Ana Maria ‘Guerrera’ Torres, and two-time junior champion David Picasso.

Yet, not many had expected nearly 15,000 people to show up for the session, and several people expressed their amazement at the turnout.

“I didn’t think many people would show up. I’m pleasantly surprised,” one participant, 52-year-old Araceli Salazar, was quoted as saying by AFP.

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“There is a very beautiful energy — very joyful, a lot of joy,” 16-year-old Carmen Perez, another participant, told the news agency.

Saturday’s record attendance of 14,299 far surpassed the previous record for the world’s largest boxing class, set in 2017 by a session in Moscow that saw some 3,000 people attend.

This new Guinness World Record is yet another feather in Mexico City’s cap, which boasts several other world records. The city of nine million also boast the the largest number of free Wi-Fi hotspots in an urban area (21,500), the biggest serving of packaged tacos (2,712 pounds or 1,230 kilograms),  and the largest number of people playing foosball simultaneously (1,080).