biography

Born in Monteria, Colombia, where he later served in the Armed Forces, IBF junior welterweight world champion Juan Urango has always been a winner, in and out of the ring. A dominant amateur with over 100 wins and five national championships to his credit, as well as a win over current WBO junior welterweight champion Miguel Cotto, the “Iron Twin” (nicknamed as such because his brother Pedro is also a professional boxer) is always one step ahead of his foes with his relentless pressure and knockout power in either hand.

After his amazing amateur success, Juan turned professional at the age of 21 on April 30, 2002, knocking out Efrain Sotomayor in two rounds in front of a large crowd in Monteria that included many of his friends and family.

Over the next eight months, Urango cut a vicious swath through the Colombian boxing scene, fighting seven times and winning each bout by knockout. Only one opponent, Dagoberto Morales, made it past the third round, but he got knocked out as well – in five rounds.

With a devastatingly effective first year under his belt, Urango wanted more – better competition and the opportunity to grow as a fighter. So he left his home and relocated to Madrid, Spain, where he picked up where he left off with a first round knockout of Ricardo Antonio Vieira on July 24, 2003.

A second round KO of Marcos Munoz followed before Juan went the distance for the first time, outpointing 9-1 prospect Frank Oppong over six rounds on October 11, 2003.

After a points victory over Leva Kirakosyan to kick off his 2004 campaign, Urango made his United States debut on June 8, 2004 and was impressive in easily outpointing Sergey Sorokin over six rounds. Sorokin, who was 15-0-1 entering the bout, was sent to the canvas in the third round before losing a near shutout decision on the judges’ scorecards.

Urango’s success and crowd pleasing style earned him a television date on Showtime’s ShoBox series on August 5, 2004 against fellow unbeaten Mike Arnaoutis. In one of 2004’s best fights, the two prospects battled tooth and nail for 12 hellacious rounds, and as the final bell rung, neither fight fans or the judges could pick a winner, and the bout was declared a draw by two of the three judges, with the third judge declaring Urango the victor by a 115-113 score. Thus, the draw decision was rendered, but Urango lost little momentum in his budding pro career.

Not skipping a beat, Urango returned to the ring on December 16, 2004, and won the vacant WBC Latin American junior welterweight championship with a devastating two round stoppage of normally durable Ubaldo Hernandez, a fighter who had been the distance with world champions Vivian Harris and Juan Diaz and who had stopped current title challenger Ebo Elder in a single round.

Urango’s victory was a message to the boxing world – ‘look out for me in 2005.’

On April 22, 2005, Urango defended his WBC Latin American championship and added the IBF Latin American title to his trophy case with an impressive fifth round knockout over rugged veteran Francisco Campos at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida. Showing his versatility and power against one of his toughest foes to date, Urango ended the bout with a single body shot at 1:46 of round five.

On August 26, Urango scored perhaps the most spectacular win of his young career when he dropped highly regarded New Yorker Andre Eason three times en route to a seventh round TKO victory. Eason, who had never been stopped before, was competitive throughout the pay-per-view televised bout, but he was unable to deal with the relentless pressure and power of the young man many are comparing to a young Mike Tyson.

Urango’s relentless aggression was on full display on June 30, 2006, when he outpointed Australia’s Naoufel Ben Rabah unanimously over 12 rounds to win the vacant IBF junior welterweight world championship. It was the culmination of a dream for Urango, but with one goal accomplished, he will now move on to the next one – unifying the belts and becoming the best 140-pound fighter in the world.

The 25-year-old champion has three children, Karina, Luis Fernando, and Nayara.