Ahmed Abitai Santos (born February 19, 1974, in

Los Mochis Los Mochis () is a coastal city in northern Sinaloa, Mexico. It serves as the municipal seat of the municipality of Ahome. As of the 2010 census, the population was 362,613, which was 61 percent of the municipality's population. Los Mochis is th ...

Sinaloa Sinaloa (), officially the (), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, compose the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 18 municipalities, and its capital city is Culiacán Rosales. It is located in northwest Mexic ...

, Mexico) is a newspaper

columnist A columnist is a person who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Column (periodical), Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs. They take the ...

and former

boxer Boxer most commonly refers to: *Boxer (boxing), a competitor in the sport of boxing * Boxer (dog), a breed of dog Boxer or boxers may also refer to: Animal kingdom * Boxer crab * Boxer shrimp, a small group of decapod crustaceans * Boxer snipe ee ...

Boxing career

Santos debuted professionally on October 2, 1992, with a ten-round draw against Francisco Sandoval in Los Mochis. Santos then won seven fights in a row, including a second-round knockout of Sandoval in a rematch held at

Culiacán Culiacán, officially Culiacán Rosales, is a city in northwestern Mexico, the capital and largest city of both Culiacán Municipality and the state of Sinaloa. The city was founded on 29 September 1531 by the Spanish conquistadors Lázaro de ...

, before moving to Phoenix in 1995. He kept his winning streak going until April 22, 1996, when he lost to former world title challenger David Sample by a ten-round decision at Tempe, after having reached thirteen wins in a row. He then won six of his next fights, drawing the other two, with two

knockout A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking, ...

s. After that, he challenged

Pete Talliaferro Pete or Petes or ''variation'', may refer to: People * Pete (given name) * Pete (nickname) * Pete (surname) Fictional characters * Pete (Disney), a cartoon character in the ''Mickey Mouse'' universe * Pete the Pup (a.k.a. 'Petey'), a character ...

for the IBA's

light welterweight Light welterweight, also known as junior welterweight or super lightweight, is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional boxing In professional boxing, light welterweight is contested between the lightweight and welterweight divisions, ...

title. He won that belt on September 10, 1997, with a nine-round knockout in

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

. He defended the title only once, losing to Antonio Diaz by a twelve-round decision on December 20 of the same year. Santos then won three of his next four bouts before challenging for the

North American Boxing Federation The North American Boxing Federation (NABF) is a not-for-profit regional sanctioning body that awards regional boxing titles. It is a boxing federation within the World Boxing Council (WBC). History The WBC established the NABF in 1969 as part of ...

light welterweight title. Among the three boxers he beat during that span were former world title challenger Billy Irwin and Ricky Quiles. On April 16, 1999, at

Bossier City, Louisiana Bossier City ( ) is a city in Bossier Parish, Louisiana, Bossier Parish in the northwestern region of the U.S. state, state of Louisiana in the United States. It is the second-most populous city in the Shreveport–Bossier City metropolitan area ...

, he beat Patrick Thomas by a twelve-round decision. On February 12, 2000, he received a shot at WBC light welterweight champion

Kostya Tszyu Konstantin Borisovich "Kostya" Tszyu ( ; rus, Константин Борисович «Костя» Цзю, , kənstɐnʲˈtʲin bɐˈrisəvʲɪtɕ ˈkosʲtʲə ˈdzːʲu; born 19 September 1969) is a Russian-Australian former professional b ...

. Santos lost that fight by a knockout in eight rounds. He went on to lose two of his next three fights before retiring. Santos had a ring record of 26 wins, 5 losses and 4 draws, with 14 wins by knockout.

Writing career

After retiring from boxing, Santos started to write articles for the Phoenix edition of the American Spanish language newspaper, ''

Prensa Hispana La Prensa may refer to: Argentina * ''La Prensa'' (Buenos Aires) Bolivia * ''La Prensa'' (La Paz), a newspaper in Bolivia Chile * ''La Prensa'' (Curicó) Cuba * ''Prensa Latina'', the official state news agency of Cuba Ecuador * ''La Pren ...

''. In 2003, ''Prensa Hispana's'' main Phoenix competitor, ''

La Voz Media United States * ''La Voz Magazine'', a magazine * '' La Voz Hispana de Virginia'', a magazine * ''La Voz de Houston'', a newspaper * ''La Voz'' (Phoenix), a newspaper * ''La Voz'', a publication in New York's Hudson Valley owned by Bar ...

'', lured him to their roster of writers. He lives in

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona. With over 1.6 million residents at the 2020 census, it is the ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Santos, Ahmed Boxers from Sinaloa Writers from Sinaloa Mexican columnists Living people 1974 births Sportspeople from Los Mochis Mexican male boxers