Miguel Santana
Encyclopedia
Miguel Santana is a former boxer
from Puerto Rico
. Santana was born in Canovanas
.
alongside a young Jose Antonio Rivera
, who is a two division world champion himself. Santana and Rivera became lifelong friends during their teenage years.
Santana decided to become a professional in 1982, and he debuted by outpointing Angel Lopez over six rounds on March 21. Santana scored his first knockout
on his next bout, on July 21, when he defeated Ramon Canales in the fourth round at San Juan
. After one more win, Santana faced Joe Rivera, on March 21, 1983 in Bayamon
. Santana knocked Rivera out in the fourth round. Half a decade later, Rivera would unsuccessfully challenge for world titles, drawing (tying) and losing to Brian Mitchell in fifteen and twelve rounds respectively, and being knocked out in seven by Juan Martin Coggi
.
Santana won his next five bouts, and, on September 1, 1984, he fought for his first title. Santana beat Javier Fragoso, a veteran who had fought Julio César Chávez
, by a knockout in the sixth round in Carolina
to win the Puerto Rican national title. Even as he was undefeated before his fight with Fragoso, Santana was largely unknown and became a celebrity in Puerto Rico only after winning the national belt.
Santana defended his national title successfully three times and won one more bout before facing Orlando Romero
in Miami Beach
on December 3, 1985. He beat the Peru
vian boxer by a fourth round knockout.
A new Puerto Rican television
channel, Tele Once, began broadcasting boxing fights weekly immediately after it was launched. Although Tele Once largely dedicated their weekly boxing show to local fights, Santana became known by television viewers in his island, with Ivonne Class and Felo Ramirez
. Tele Once's boxing commentators, speaking about him regularly. Santana won three fights in 1986 before meeting Terrence Alli on September 27 of that year, as part of the program where Lloyd Honeyghan
upset Donald Curry
with a seventh round knockout in Atlantic City, New Jersey
. Their bout was televised to Puerto Rico by one of Tele Once's two major competitors, WAPA-TV
. Santana entered the ring that night undefeated in 19 bouts, with 11 knockout wins. In a bout for the vacant, regional USBA
Lightweight title, Santana lost a 12 round unanimous decision to the Guyana
n, despite hurting Alli in the last round. On December 19, he returned with a sixth round knockout win over Felix Gonzalez, once again in Atlantic City.
On July 25, 1987, Santana faced Pernell Whitaker
, who defeated Santana by a sixth round knockout for the NABF and USBA lightweight titles in Norfolk, Virginia
. After losing a ten round decision to Terrence Alli in a rematch, Santana got a chance to challenge IBF
world Lightweight champion Greg Haugen
for the world title on April 11, 1988.
The fight had some rare circumstances surrounding it, mostly because Santana had lost twice in a row coming into his challenge for a world title. For ten rounds in Spokane, Washington
, the two boxers fought a close bout, but the fight had to be stopped because of a headbutt in round eleven and, since it had already passed the fourth round, the judges' scorecards were collected to declare the winner. It was a highly controversial bout, because Santana was announced as the winner and new world champion by a technical decision, but, about twenty minutes later, one of the judges claimed he had miscalculated his scorecard and he had Haugen ahead, not Santana, so the fight's result was changed and Haugen declared the winner instead, by technical decision also. Angered at what happened in Washington state, Santana launched an investigation into the fight.
Santana went on boxing until 1998, but he was largely reduced to a journeyman boxer (that is, a boxer who usually loses to his opponents) and he lost 16 of his next 21 bouts before retiring for good. Among the fighters he lost to during that phase of his career were Tracy Spann, James McGuirt, Todd Foster
, Santos Cardona
, Stephan Johnson, Glenwood Brown
, Willy Wise (who would go on to beat Chávez and lose to the Mexican
fighter in a rematch) Ray Oliveira
and, in Santana's last fight, Wilfredo Negron
. Santana retired with 25 wins, 20 losses and 2 draws, 14 of his wins coming by way of knockout.
Early in 2006, Santana and Rivera spoke in Puerto Rico, and Santana told Rivera that the IBF had told him they may recognize him as a former world Lightweight champion on that boxing group. Apparently, there had been a breakthrough in the investigation that Santana conducted after his fight with Haugen, as Haugen had been a large betting favorite for their fight. Combined with the fact that the one judge who had Santana ahead and later claimed to have committed a mistake in adding his numbers took 20 minutes to make his claim, the IBF was convinced that foul play may have taken place after the Santana-Haugen affair.
In June 2006, the IBF announced that they would take the unprecedented move of making Santana a world champion by recognizing him as IBF world Lightweight champion in 1988. Although his loss to Haugen stood, the IBF announced it would include Santana in its list of world boxing champions and send him an IBF world title belt. The next day, however, Miryam Muhammad, IBF president, said that the IBF had changed their mind, and Santana would not be presented with a title belt, being honored at a lunch instead. However, Muhammad also said she is studying whether to award Santana the belt or not. Should the IBF recognize Santana as a past champion, Santana would become the fighter who waited the longest in history to find out he had become a world champion after his title fight was over, as it would come about 18 years after Santana's championship bout with Haugen. This is crazy.
Santana currently lives in Bayamon
.
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
from Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
. Santana was born in Canovanas
Canóvanas, Puerto Rico
Canóvanas is a municipality in Puerto Rico, located in the northeastern region, north of Juncos and Las Piedras; south of Loíza; east of Carolina; and west of Río Grande. Canóvanas is spread over 7 wards and Canóvanas Pueblo...
.
Boxing career
Miguel Santana had an award winning amateur boxing career, trainingBoxing training
Boxing training is the training method that boxers use in order to get more fit for their sport. This training method is often cited by medical doctors, boxing trainers, and writers as one of the most spartan forms of sports training.- Training :...
alongside a young Jose Antonio Rivera
José Antonio Rivera
José Antonio Rivera is an American professional boxer in the super welterweight division.His record is 39-6-1 . He is a former WBA welterweight and WBA world super welterweight champion. He is of Puerto Rican descent....
, who is a two division world champion himself. Santana and Rivera became lifelong friends during their teenage years.
Santana decided to become a professional in 1982, and he debuted by outpointing Angel Lopez over six rounds on March 21. Santana scored his first knockout
Knockout
A knockout is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts, Karate and others sports involving striking...
on his next bout, on July 21, when he defeated Ramon Canales in the fourth round at San Juan
San Juan, Puerto Rico
San Juan , officially Municipio de la Ciudad Capital San Juan Bautista , is the capital and most populous municipality in Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 395,326 making it the 46th-largest city under the jurisdiction of...
. After one more win, Santana faced Joe Rivera, on March 21, 1983 in Bayamon
Bayamón, Puerto Rico
Bayamón is a municipality of Puerto Rico located on the northern coastal valley, north of Aguas Buenas and Comerío; south of Toa Baja and Cataño; west of Guaynabo; and east of Toa Alta and Naranjito. Bayamón is spread over 11 wards and Bayamón Pueblo...
. Santana knocked Rivera out in the fourth round. Half a decade later, Rivera would unsuccessfully challenge for world titles, drawing (tying) and losing to Brian Mitchell in fifteen and twelve rounds respectively, and being knocked out in seven by Juan Martin Coggi
Juan Martin Coggi
Juan Martin Coggi is a former boxer from Argentina. A native of Santa Fe , which was also the birthplace of Carlos Monzón, Coggi was a three time world light welterweight champion. He had 75 wins, 5 losses and 2 draws, with 44 wins by knockout...
.
Santana won his next five bouts, and, on September 1, 1984, he fought for his first title. Santana beat Javier Fragoso, a veteran who had fought Julio César Chávez
Julio César Chávez
Julio César Chávez is a retired Mexican professional boxer.He is a six-time world champion in three weight divisions, and for several years he was considered the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world...
, by a knockout in the sixth round in Carolina
Carolina, Puerto Rico
Carolina is a city located in the northern part of Puerto Rico, bordering the Atlantic Ocean; it lies north of Gurabo and Juncos; east of Trujillo Alto and San Juan; and west of Canóvanas and Loíza. Carolina is spread over 12 wards plus Carolina Pueblo...
to win the Puerto Rican national title. Even as he was undefeated before his fight with Fragoso, Santana was largely unknown and became a celebrity in Puerto Rico only after winning the national belt.
Santana defended his national title successfully three times and won one more bout before facing Orlando Romero
Orlando Romero
Orlando Romero is a former boxer from Peru. Nicknamed "Romerito" he was one of South America's top ranked lightweights during the 1980s.-Professional boxing career:...
in Miami Beach
Miami Beach, Florida
Miami Beach is a coastal resort city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States, incorporated on March 26, 1915. The municipality is located on a barrier island between the Atlantic Ocean and Biscayne Bay, the latter which separates the Beach from Miami city proper...
on December 3, 1985. He beat the Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
vian boxer by a fourth round knockout.
A new Puerto Rican television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
channel, Tele Once, began broadcasting boxing fights weekly immediately after it was launched. Although Tele Once largely dedicated their weekly boxing show to local fights, Santana became known by television viewers in his island, with Ivonne Class and Felo Ramirez
Felo Ramírez
Rafael Ramírez is the Cuban-American Spanish language radio voice of the Miami Marlins. Ramirez is also a boxing expert, having broadcast fights for Latin American radio and television audiences since 1948 .Ramírez was born in Bayamo, Cuba, and is commonly known as "El Orgullo de...
. Tele Once's boxing commentators, speaking about him regularly. Santana won three fights in 1986 before meeting Terrence Alli on September 27 of that year, as part of the program where Lloyd Honeyghan
Lloyd Honeyghan
Lloyd Honeyghan is a retired British boxer. Born in Jamaica, he was WBC/WBA & IBF welterweight champion from 1986 to 1987. and WBC welterweight champion from 1988 to 1989....
upset Donald Curry
Donald Curry
Donald Curry is a retired boxer from Fort Worth, Texas, United States. Nicknamed the "Lone Star Cobra," Curry was the Undisputed World Welterweight Champion and the WBC Super Welterweight Champion.-Amateur career:...
with a seventh round knockout in Atlantic City, New Jersey
Atlantic City, New Jersey
Atlantic City is a city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States, and a nationally renowned resort city for gambling, shopping and fine dining. The city also served as the inspiration for the American version of the board game Monopoly. Atlantic City is located on Absecon Island on the coast...
. Their bout was televised to Puerto Rico by one of Tele Once's two major competitors, WAPA-TV
WAPA-TV
WAPA-TV is an independent television station located in San Juan, Puerto Rico transmitting over digital channel 27, virtual channel 4. The station is owned by InterMedia Partners and is branded as WAPA Television....
. Santana entered the ring that night undefeated in 19 bouts, with 11 knockout wins. In a bout for the vacant, regional USBA
USBA
USBA may refer to:* United States Basketball Academy* United States Boxing Association, the predecessor of the International Boxing Federation* United States Boomerang Association* United States Bicycle Motocross Association...
Lightweight title, Santana lost a 12 round unanimous decision to the Guyana
Guyana
Guyana , officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, previously the colony of British Guiana, is a sovereign state on the northern coast of South America that is culturally part of the Anglophone Caribbean. Guyana was a former colony of the Dutch and of the British...
n, despite hurting Alli in the last round. On December 19, he returned with a sixth round knockout win over Felix Gonzalez, once again in Atlantic City.
On July 25, 1987, Santana faced Pernell Whitaker
Pernell Whitaker
Pernell Whitaker , nicknamed "Sweet Pea", is a professional boxing trainer and retired American professional boxer...
, who defeated Santana by a sixth round knockout for the NABF and USBA lightweight titles in Norfolk, Virginia
Norfolk, Virginia
Norfolk is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. With a population of 242,803 as of the 2010 Census, it is Virginia's second-largest city behind neighboring Virginia Beach....
. After losing a ten round decision to Terrence Alli in a rematch, Santana got a chance to challenge IBF
International Boxing Federation
The International Boxing Federation or IBF is one of four major organizations recognized by IBHOF which sanction world championship boxing bouts, alongside the WBA, WBC and WBO.- History :...
world Lightweight champion Greg Haugen
Greg Haugen
Greg Lee Haugen is a retired American boxer. Haugen was champion at both the Lightweight and Light-welterweight classes.Haugen turned pro in 1982 and won his first 17 fights before challenging for a world title...
for the world title on April 11, 1988.
The fight had some rare circumstances surrounding it, mostly because Santana had lost twice in a row coming into his challenge for a world title. For ten rounds in Spokane, Washington
Spokane, Washington
Spokane is a city located in the Northwestern United States in the state of Washington. It is the largest city of Spokane County of which it is also the county seat, and the metropolitan center of the Inland Northwest region...
, the two boxers fought a close bout, but the fight had to be stopped because of a headbutt in round eleven and, since it had already passed the fourth round, the judges' scorecards were collected to declare the winner. It was a highly controversial bout, because Santana was announced as the winner and new world champion by a technical decision, but, about twenty minutes later, one of the judges claimed he had miscalculated his scorecard and he had Haugen ahead, not Santana, so the fight's result was changed and Haugen declared the winner instead, by technical decision also. Angered at what happened in Washington state, Santana launched an investigation into the fight.
Santana went on boxing until 1998, but he was largely reduced to a journeyman boxer (that is, a boxer who usually loses to his opponents) and he lost 16 of his next 21 bouts before retiring for good. Among the fighters he lost to during that phase of his career were Tracy Spann, James McGuirt, Todd Foster
Todd Foster
Todd Foster is an American boxer in the Junior middleweight division.-Amateur career:Foster was an amateur boxing standout...
, Santos Cardona
Santos Cardona
Santos A. Cardona was a sergeant in the United States Army. He was one of the members of the U.S. military police personnel who were charged with torturing prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.-Military Career:...
, Stephan Johnson, Glenwood Brown
Glenwood Brown
Glenwood Brown was a professional boxer in the welterweight division.- Amateur career :...
, Willy Wise (who would go on to beat Chávez and lose to the Mexican
Mexican people
Mexican people refers to all persons from Mexico, a multiethnic country in North America, and/or who identify with the Mexican cultural and/or national identity....
fighter in a rematch) Ray Oliveira
Ray Oliveira
"Sucra" Ray Oliveira in New Bedford, MA, USA is a former professional boxer who plans on coming out of retirement in an attempt to gain his 50th career win...
and, in Santana's last fight, Wilfredo Negron
Wilfredo Negron
Wilfredo Negron is a professional boxer.Wilfredo began boxing professionally in 1994, and has faced a number of tough opponents in his 13 year career, such as Zab Judah, Martese Logan, and Emanuel Augustus. He has challenged for a number of minor titles, winning the WBA Fedecentro lightweight and...
. Santana retired with 25 wins, 20 losses and 2 draws, 14 of his wins coming by way of knockout.
After boxing
Miguel Santana led a mostly quiet life after he retired from professional boxing, staying friends with Jose Antonio Rivera.Early in 2006, Santana and Rivera spoke in Puerto Rico, and Santana told Rivera that the IBF had told him they may recognize him as a former world Lightweight champion on that boxing group. Apparently, there had been a breakthrough in the investigation that Santana conducted after his fight with Haugen, as Haugen had been a large betting favorite for their fight. Combined with the fact that the one judge who had Santana ahead and later claimed to have committed a mistake in adding his numbers took 20 minutes to make his claim, the IBF was convinced that foul play may have taken place after the Santana-Haugen affair.
In June 2006, the IBF announced that they would take the unprecedented move of making Santana a world champion by recognizing him as IBF world Lightweight champion in 1988. Although his loss to Haugen stood, the IBF announced it would include Santana in its list of world boxing champions and send him an IBF world title belt. The next day, however, Miryam Muhammad, IBF president, said that the IBF had changed their mind, and Santana would not be presented with a title belt, being honored at a lunch instead. However, Muhammad also said she is studying whether to award Santana the belt or not. Should the IBF recognize Santana as a past champion, Santana would become the fighter who waited the longest in history to find out he had become a world champion after his title fight was over, as it would come about 18 years after Santana's championship bout with Haugen. This is crazy.
Santana currently lives in Bayamon
Bayamón, Puerto Rico
Bayamón is a municipality of Puerto Rico located on the northern coastal valley, north of Aguas Buenas and Comerío; south of Toa Baja and Cataño; west of Guaynabo; and east of Toa Alta and Naranjito. Bayamón is spread over 11 wards and Bayamón Pueblo...
.