Daniel Santos (boxer)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Men's Boxing
Olympic medal record
Bronze	1996 Atlanta	Welterweight

Daniel Santos (born October 10, 1975 in San Juan, Puerto Rico) is a Puerto Rican boxer, who won a bronze medal in the Welterweight Division at the 1996 Summer Olympics and won "world"titles of sorts in the pro ranks.

[edit] Amateur

Southpaw Santos competed in 1995 in the Pan American Games in Mar del Plata and captured the silver medal in his division. At the Olympics he won bronze. In addition to his Olympic medal, Santos was a stellar amateur, compiling an 117-3 amateur record.

[edit] Pro

Santos began his professional career in 1996, and got off to a 21-0-1 start in the Welterweight division, losing his first fight to unknown Kofi Jantuah in 1999 by TKO. The chin always remained a problem.

Later that year, Santos got a shot at WBO Welterweight Title holder Ahmed Kotiev and lost a controversial split decision in Germany, the American gave him the fight by a wide margin. In 2000 they had a rematch, and Santos won by spectaclar 5th round KO in Germany, capturing the title. Kotiev hadn't been regarded as the "real" champ by any leading magazine, Santos was therefore regarded as a "paper champion", never gaining the popularity of countryman Felix Trinidad.

Santos defended the four times, getting a KO over the smaller Giovanni Parisi and a no-contest with Antonio Margarito. Against Neil Sinclair he was again down early but knocked his foe out dramatically in the second round

In 2002 he moved up to Light Middleweight, taking on Luis Ramon Campas for the WBO title, and beating the experienced Mexican by 11th round TKO. He defended his title four times, including a technical decision in a rematch with Margarito (who had won the WBO welter belt), when the fight was one more time stopped due to a cut above Margarito's right eyebrow caused by accidental headbutt but this time the necessary minimum number of rounds were completed to count the score.

Santos lost the belt in 2005 to undefeated fellow southpaw and amateur star Sergiy Dzinziruk on points.

Preceded by Ahmed Kotiev	WBO Welterweight boxing champion 5 June 2000–March 2002 Vacated	Succeeded by Antonio Margarito
Preceded by Harry Simon Vacated	WBO Light Middleweight boxing champion 16 March 2002–03 December 2005	Succeeded by Sergiy Dzinziruk