BOXERS from Puerto Rico

Top 4

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Puerto Rican Boxers of all time. This list of famous Puerto Rican Boxers is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.

1. José Torres (1936 - 2009)

With an HPI of 48.56, José Torres is the most famous Puerto Rican Boxer.  His biography has been translated into 15 different languages on wikipedia.

José Louis "Chegüi" Torres (May 3, 1936 – January 19, 2009) was a Puerto Rican-born professional boxer who fought representing the United States. As an amateur boxer, he won a silver medal in the middleweight division at the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne. In 1965, he defeated Willie Pastrano to win the WBC, WBA, and lineal light-heavyweight championships. Torres trained with the legendary boxing trainer Cus D'Amato. In 1997, he was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.

2. Héctor Camacho (1962 - 2012)

With an HPI of 43.59, Héctor Camacho is the 2nd most famous Puerto Rican Boxer.  His biography has been translated into 20 different languages.

Héctor Luís Camacho Matías (May 24, 1962 – November 24, 2012), commonly known by his nickname "Macho" Camacho, was a Puerto Rican professional boxer and entertainer. Known for his quickness in the ring and flamboyant style, Camacho competed professionally from 1980 to 2010, and was a world champion in three weight classes. He held the WBC super featherweight title from 1983 to 1984, the WBC lightweight title from 1985 to 1987, and the WBO junior welterweight title twice between 1989 and 1992. In a storied amateur career, Camacho won three New York Golden Gloves tournaments, beginning with the Sub-Novice 112 lbs championship in 1978. During his professional career, Camacho had many notable fights against some of the biggest names in boxing, defeating Roberto Durán twice late in Duran's career, and knocking out Sugar Ray Leonard. He also fought Julio César Chávez, Félix Trinidad, and Oscar De La Hoya, among others. During his later years, Camacho expanded his popular role and appeared on a variety of Spanish-language reality television shows including Univision's' dancing show Mira Quien Baila and a weekly segment on the popular show El Gordo y La Flaca, named "Macho News". However, he also had much-publicized troubles with drug abuse and criminal charges. In 2005, Camacho was arrested for burglary, a charge to which he would later plead guilty. In 2011 he was shot at three times by would-be carjackers in San Juan, but was uninjured. In late 2012, Camacho was awaiting trial in Florida on charges of physical abuse of one of his sons. On November 20, 2012, Camacho was shot and seriously wounded while sitting in a car outside a bar in his native Bayamón; the driver, a childhood friend, was killed in the shooting. Camacho died four days later; after he was declared clinically brain dead, his mother requested the doctors remove him from life support. After lying in repose for two days in Santurce, Camacho's remains were transported to New York for burial at the request of his mother.

3. Félix Trinidad (b. 1973)

With an HPI of 40.89, Félix Trinidad is the 3rd most famous Puerto Rican Boxer.  His biography has been translated into 19 different languages.

Félix Juan Trinidad García (born January 10, 1973), popularly known as "Tito" Trinidad, is a Puerto Rican former professional boxer who competed from 1990 to 2008. He held multiple world championships in three weight classes and is considered to be one of the greatest Puerto Rican boxers of all time. After winning five national amateur championships in Puerto Rico, Trinidad debuted as a professional when he was seventeen, and won his first world championship by defeating Maurice Blocker to win the IBF welterweight title in 1993, a title he would hold for almost seven years with fifteen defenses. As his career continued, he defeated Oscar De La Hoya to win the WBC and lineal welterweight titles in 1999; Fernando Vargas to win the unified WBA and IBF light middleweight titles in 2000; and William Joppy for the WBA middleweight title in 2001. Trinidad's first professional loss was against Bernard Hopkins later in 2001, and following this, he retired from boxing for the first time. Trinidad made his ring return by defeating Ricardo Mayorga in 2004. After a losing effort against Winky Wright in 2005, he retired for a second time. In 2008 he returned once more and lost to Roy Jones Jr. Subsequently, Trinidad entered a hiatus without clarifying the status of his career. Trinidad is frequently mentioned among the best Puerto Rican boxers of all time by sports journalists and analysts, along with Juan Laporte, Esteban De Jesús, Wilfredo Vázquez, Miguel Cotto, Wilfred Benítez, Wilfredo Gómez, Héctor Camacho, Edwin Rosario and Carlos Ortíz. In 2000, Trinidad was voted Fighter of the Year by The Ring magazine and the Boxing Writers Association of America. He is ranked number 30 on The Ring's list of 100 greatest punchers of all time and in 2002 named him the 51st greatest fighter of the past 80 years. In 2013, Trinidad became eligible and was voted into the 2014 Class of the International Boxing Hall of Fame. He was officially inducted into the hall during a ceremony held on June 4, 2014, becoming the tenth Puerto Rican to receive such an honor.

4. Daniel Santos (b. 1975)

With an HPI of 26.99, Daniel Santos is the 4th most famous Puerto Rican Boxer.  His biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Daniel Santos Peña (born October 10, 1975) is a Puerto Rican former professional boxer who competed from 1996 to 2009. He is a world champion in two weight classes, having held the WBO welterweight title from 2000 to 2001, the WBO light middleweight title from 2002 to 2005, and the WBA light middleweight title from 2008 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 at welterweight.