Juan Palacios: Boxing Career and Notable Fights
Juan Ramón Palacios Pérez is a Nicaraguan boxer from Managua who held interim world titles at minimumweight. His record includes both WBC and WBA interim championship bouts; those interim belts should not be confused with a full world title reign.
Interim title record
Palacios won the vacant WBC interim minimumweight title by stopping Puerto Rico’s Omar Soto in the tenth round on August 2, 2008. He made interim defenses before fighting WBC champion Oleydong Sithsamerchai for the full title in November 2009; Sithsamerchai won by majority decision and retained the championship.
In 2011, Palacios won the WBA interim minimumweight title by unanimous decision over Sammy Gutiérrez. He beat Armando Torres later that year, but had already lost the interim belt on the scales after failing to make weight. These results establish Palacios as an interim titleholder, while the record does not show him winning the full WBC or WBA minimumweight championship.
Further career results
Palacios’s earlier title record included a Nicaraguan minimumweight championship in 2000 and a WBC Latino light-flyweight belt in 2002. In October 2002, he challenged José Antonio Aguirre in Mexico and lost a split decision. He subsequently rebuilt with wins in Nicaragua, including a unanimous decision over future world champion Ganigan López in March 2006. After winning the WBC interim belt against Soto, Palacios stopped Teruo Misawa in Chengdu in November 2008 and Erik Ramírez in Mexico City in June 2009. The full-title loss to Sithsamerchai followed those two successful interim defenses. The 2011 Torres bout brought a different complication: Palacios won in the ring, but missing the minimumweight limit had ended his WBA interim reign before the contest began. He briefly discussed retirement, then decided to continue at light flyweight. His later record included draws with Nerys Espinoza in 2012 and Alcides Martínez in 2015, followed by further appearances in Puerto Rico and the United States.
Sources
Additional sources: https://www.boxingscene.com/articles/oleydong-decisions-palacios-retains-wbc-title; https://www.boxingscene.com/articles/juan-palacios-moving-up-eyes-another-title-run; https://boxerlist.com/fr/boxer/juan-palacios/37748
- BoxRec: Juan Palacios profile and title history
- WBA: Juan Palacios official boxer profile
- La Prensa: Interview with former Nicaraguan champion Juan Palacios
