This day in boxing. A look back.

[TitoFan]

Daniel Santos was a very slick southpaw. Oddly enough, he never achieved the levels of acclaim here in his native Puerto Rico that other fighters did. I personally witnessed his second fight against Margarito here in San Juan.

He was a tidy fighter , was there a reason the fans never gelled with him back home then?

I don't know... it may have been a combination of several factors. One I would have to mention is that his career coincided very much with Trinidad's. Trinidad's shadow probably didn't do Daniel much good. Also, there was this general perception that Daniel had other interests, and didn't give boxing the priority it deserved. That one is probably pretty unfair and maybe inaccurate, IMO. Finally, Daniel got in with some lousy promoters who mismanaged at least part of his career. It is thought that Daniel, with better promoting, could've gone even further. Still, he had a pretty good career, and was a very difficult opponent for many. He's one of Puerto Rico's past boxing champions, so it's not all bad in the public's eye.