Rafael Pineda (born January 12, 1966 in

Barranquilla Barranquilla () is the capital district of Atlántico Department in Colombia. It is located near the Caribbean Sea and is the largest city and third port in the Caribbean Coast region; as of 2018 it had a population of 1,206,319, making it Col ...

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

) 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 the ...

Professional career

Known as "Derby", Pineda turned

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

in 1986 and in 1989 took on former

Olympian Olympian or Olympians may refer to: Religion * Twelve Olympians, the principal gods and goddesses in ancient Greek religion * Olympian spirits, spirits mentioned in books of ceremonial magic Fiction * ''Percy Jackson & the Olympians'', fiction ...

Mark Breland for the WBA welterweight title, but was TKO'd in the fifth round. In 1991 he won the vacant

IBF The International Boxing Federation (IBF) is one of four major organizations recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) which sanctions professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Counci ...

Light Welterweight title by beating Roger Mayweather with a ninth-round knockout. He successfully defended the title once before losing it by decision to welterweight legend Pernell Whitaker 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 in 2002, losing a technical decision. In 2004 he lost a close split decision to phenom Zab Judah. 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 Sportspeople from Barranquilla Welterweight boxers 20th-century Colombian people {{Colombia-boxing-bio-stub