Mario Rivera Martino, 85, filed his first report with THE RING in 1945 and has been a major and valuable contributor to the magazine ever since.

That wasn’t his first brush with big-time boxing, though.

Pedro Montanez returned to New York in 1935 after his glorious tour of Europe, during which he knocked out some of that continent’s top lightweights and won hearts at home as a result, and apparently his shoes were scuffed.

In stepped Marino.

“I had the honor of being his shoe-shine boy,” Marino said with a laugh.

Here is the trusty correspondent’s list of the 10 greatest Puerto Rican-born fighters of all-time.

He said he went with Gomez at No. 1 for one reason: 17 defenses of his WBC super bantamweight title, 17 knockouts. Also, note that Wilfredo Benitez isn’t on the list because he was born in the U.S. Martino would’ve ranked him No. 3.

1. Wilfredo Gomez (44-3-1, 42 KOs)
2. Carlos Ortiz (61-7-1, 30 KOs)
3. Felix Trinidad (42-3, 35 KOs)
4. Edwin Rosario (47-6, 41 KOs)
5. Miguel Cotto (33-1, 27 KOs)
6. Esteban De Jesus (58-5, 33 KOs)
7. Sixto Escobar (43-22-3, 19 KOs)
8. Pedro Montanez (92-7-4, 54 KOs)
9. Jose Torres (41-3-1, 29 KOs)
10. Alfredo Escalera (53-14-3, 31 KOs)