Rafael Pineda (born January 12, 1966, in

Barranquilla Barranquilla () is the capital district of the Atlántico department in Colombia. It is located near the Caribbean Sea and is the largest city and third port in the Caribbean region of Colombia, Caribbean coast region; as of 2018, it had a popul ...

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

) is a former Colombian boxer at

welterweight Welterweight is a weight class in combat sports. Originally the term ''welterweight'' was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like muay Thai, taekwondo, and mixed martial arts also use it for their own weight division system to classify th ...

Professional career

Known as "Derby", Pineda turned

pro Pro is an abbreviation meaning "professional". Pro, PRO or variants thereof might also refer to: People * Miguel Pro (1891–1927), Mexican priest * Pro Hart (1928–2006), Australian painter * Mlungisi Mdluli (born 1980), South African ret ...

in 1986 and in 1989 took on former Olympian

Mark Breland Mark Anthony Breland (born May 11, 1963) is an American boxing trainer. As an amateur, he was a Gold Medal winner at the 1984 Summer Olympics, with a 110-1 record as an amateur and is regarded among the greatest amateur fighters ever. He comp ...

for the WBA welterweight title, but was

TKO A technical knockout (TKO) is a professional fighting term. TKO may also refer to: Sports * TKO, the name of a professional wrestling move referring to either the cutter or stunner variant * TKO Group Holdings, a combat sports company Music Ar ...

'd in the fifth round. In 1991 he won the vacant IBF Light Welterweight title by beating

Roger Mayweather Roger L. Mayweather (April 24, 1961 – March 17, 2020) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1981 to 1999 and later on a boxing trainer. He was a two-division world champion, having held the WBA and ''The Ring'' super featherwe ...

with a ninth-round knockout. He successfully defended the title once before losing it by decision to welterweight legend

Pernell Whitaker Pernell Whitaker Sr. (January 2, 1964 – July 14, 2019) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1984 to 2001, and subsequently worked as a boxing trainer. He was a four-weight world champion, having won titles at lightweight, ligh ...

in 1992. Pineda retired after the loss, but came back in 1996.

Comeback

Pineda launched a comeback in 1996 and fought for a few years in his native Colombia before taking on

Cory Spinks Cory Spinks (born Cory Calvin; February 20, 1978) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1997 to 2013. He held multiple world championships in two weight classes, including the undisputed welterweight title from 2003 to 2005 ...

in 2002, losing a technical decision. In 2004 he lost a close split decision to phenom

Zab Judah Zabdiel Judah (born October 27, 1977) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1996 to 2019. He held multiple world championships in two weight classes, including the undisputed championship at welterweight in 2005, and the ...

. He has not fought since the loss.

Personal

Pineda is the brother of fellow boxer Hugo Pineda.

References

External links

* 1966 births International Boxing Federation champions Living people Colombian male boxers Boxers from Barranquilla Welterweight boxers 20th-century Colombian sportsmen {{Colombia-boxing-bio-stub