Alexis Argüello, Nicaragua's three-time world boxing champion, has undoubtedly become one of the ruling Sandinistas' strong arms in Managua. Today the party will officially announce his nomination as candidate for mayor of the Nicaraguan capital.

The former vice mayor of Managua, Argüello will run for mayor in an election on Nov. 2.

Years ago, Argüello, 56, would not have been a likely candidate for President Daniel Ortega's party, and not just because he was too busy throwing knockout punches in the ring.

In the early 1980s Argüello pledged support for the Contras – the Sandinistas' U.S.-backed arch nemesis, he told The Nica Times.

“I was a naïve guy,” he said of his pro-Contra days, during an interview in December, one month after he had first announced his intentions to run for mayor of Managua.

But after three years as the party's vice-mayor in the capital, Argüello is a card-carrying Sandinista who now refers to President Ortega as “my leader.”

The party hopes Argüello will take over the reins from present mayor José Dionisio Marenco, also a Sandinista, and is looking to up its municipal rule from 87 to 100 of the country's 153 municipalities, according to newswire ACAN-EFE.