A new week-long event is taking place in Pokémon GO from now until March 12 — the Battle Showdown event, where there are bonuses to earned Stardust, extra XP for getting Gym Badges, and rewards for battling in Trainer Battles as well as fighting Team Leaders.
According to the update, Fighting-type Pokémon will spawn more frequently throughout the event. Additionally, Shiny Mankey and Shiny Machop are now available in Pokémon GO and can be found more commonly during the event.
There’s also a 2× bonus to Stardust earned while catching Pokémon, battling, and raiding, as well as a 2× multiplier for XP from Gym Badges.
Players can earn up to five rewards per day for partaking in Trainer battles and up to three rewards per day for challenging Team Leaders, with each reward having a chance at being a Rare Candy.
Lastly, the move Power-Up Punch is now available for select Pokémon. Poliwrath, Hitmonchan, Kangaskhan, Medicham and Lucario were all specifically mentioned in the update.
The event runs from March 5, 2019 at 1:00pm PST (GMT-8) through March 12, 2019 at 1:00pm PDT (GMT-7, due to Daylight Saving Time in North America).