Osvaldo Rivero, manager for WBO junior bantamweight titlist Omar Narvaez, was the victim of a violent robbery on Wednesday on an Argentine highway. Three men posing as patrolmen took an estimated $45,000 in cash, other personal items, and even the clothes that Narvaez was planning to wear this Friday in his upcoming rematch against Felipe Orucuta in Villa Maria, in the province of Cordoba, Argentina.

According to reports posted in several Argentine news media outlets, Rivero was driving his Porsche SUV on his way to the site of Friday’s title bout, when he was stopped by three uniformed persons on the AO12 highway, near the town of Soldini. Once the allegedly false policemen established Rivero’s identity, they drew firearms and proceeded to hit and threaten Rivero and his two companions (WBO official Jorge Molina and Rivero’s assistant Edgardo Rosanni) in their vehicle.

One report indicates that Rosanni made an attempt to repel the attack, and was then beaten and handcuffed along with Molina. In that moment, Rivero was able to escape the attack and was assisted by a truck driver who stopped on his request. The thieves proceeded to ransack Rivero’s SUV and fled the scene in what was described as an obviously fake police car.

Local newspaper Clarin quoted local district attorney Alvaro Campos as saying that “no hypothesis has been ruled out so far, but everything indicates that these people were impersonating law enforcement officers. It is unclear whether they acted randomly or if they had a logistic support for this job.”

The same newspaper quotes Rivero saying “I have a hard time believing that I had to choose between dying or living,” in reference to his decision to flee during the attack, in which he suffered a cut on the scalp that required medical attention.

As of Friday afternoon, the fight between Narvaez and Orucuta was still on.