Daniel Santos (boxer)

Daniel Santos
Santos (on the right) in October 2007
Statistics
Real name	Daniel Santos Peña
Nickname(s)	El Pillin
Rated at	Welterweight Light middleweight
Height	5 ft 11 1⁄2 in (182 cm)
Reach	74 in (188 cm)
Nationality	Puerto Rican
Born	(1975-10-10) October 10, 1975 (age 41) San Juan, Puerto Rico
Stance	Southpaw
Boxing record
Total fights	38
Wins	32
Wins by KO	23
Losses	4
Draws	1
No contests	1
Medal record Men's amateur boxing Representing  Puerto Rico Olympic Games 1996 Atlanta Welterweight Pan American Games 1995 Mar del Plata Welterweight

Daniel Santos Peña (born October 10, 1975) is a former professional boxer who competed from 1996 to 2009. As an amateur Santos represented Puerto Rico in international events, including the 1990 and 1992 Junior World Championships, Pan American Boxing Tournament, Goodwill Games, 1995 Pan American Games and the 1996 Summer Olympics, where he won a bronze medal in the Welterweight Division. Santos debuted as a professional in 1996. Santos won the World Boxing Organization Welterweight championship on May 6, 2000. On March 16, 2002 he vacated the welterweight division's championship in order to compete against Yori Boy Campas for the vacant World Boxing Organization Light middleweight championship. Santos defended this championship on four occasions, against Mehrdud Takaloo (in a fight where he won the World Boxing Union Light middleweight championship), Fulgencio Zúñiga, Michael Lerma and Antonio Margarito before losing it to Sergiy Dzindziruk by unanimous decision in a fight that took place on December 3, 2005. On July 11, 2008, Santos won his third professional championship, knocking out Joachim Alcine in six rounds to win the World Boxing Association's light middleweight title.

Santos was raised in a family where boxing was a common profession, with his father Paquito Santos being a trainer and his brother Edgardo Santos being a former professional boxer. Early in his life Daniel Santos was enrolled in a school specialized in sports, located in a facility designed for the training of Olympic athletes in Puerto Rico. He eventually graduated from this institution and continued a career in boxing. Santos began to compete in the international amateur circuit in 1990. On this year he won the bronze medal in the World Junior Championships that were organized in Lima, Peru. Two years later he competed in the World Junior Championships that were celebrated in Montreal, Canada, where he won the bronze medal, for the second straight time in a competition with worldwide scope. On 1993 he debuted in the adult division when he competed in the Panamerican Boxing championship. This event took place in Salinas, Puerto Rico. Santos won the gold medal on this tournament. In 1994 Santos represented Puerto Rico in the Goodwill Games that took place in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Here, Santos finished third in his division and won the bronze medal. His next international participation was in the 1995 Pan American games celebrated in Mar del Plata, Argentina, where he won the silver medal. The result of the championship fight was controversial, when David Reid won the fight by decision after Santos scored a knockdown during the course of the contest. Santos represented Puerto Rico once again at the 1996 Summer Olympics organized in Atlanta, Georgia. Here he competed in three fights, he defeated two adversaries by unanimous decision, these were: Kabil Lahsen of Morocco with score of 16–4 and Nariman Atayev of Uzbekistan with a score of 28–15. In his first fight he defeated Ernest Atangana Mboa of Cameroon by RSC (referee stopping contest) at the 2:54 mark of the first round. His last fight was against Oleg Saitov of Russia where he lost by points with score of 11–13. He finished the competition in the third global place and won the bronze medal, with this medal Santos became the sixth Puerto Rican boxer to win an Olympic medal. Daniel finished his amateur career compiling a record of 117 fights won and three defeats.