# Rubén Darío Palacio

Ruben Darío "El Huracán" Palacio (1 December 1962 in Puerto Nare, Antioquia – 14 November 2003 in Medellín, Colombia) was a Colombian boxer.

## Professional career

Palacio fought 11 years before surprisingly winning the WBO title in England with an eighth-round technical knockout of British star Colin McMillan after McMillan dislocated his shoulder on 26 September 1992.
Before that, Palacio had tried unsuccessfully to win a world title on 3 occasions and never gave up on his dream, even when he had very low points in his career (between 1984 and 1986, for example, he lost 4 out of 5 fights).
He was very much the underdog against the flashy 23-1 McMillan but Palacio had his night of glory that day in London. Ironically, he returned to England to defend his title and then he was diagnosed with the HIV virus by the British Boxing Board of Control. Palacio had to relinquish the belt he had waited so long to win and retired with a 45-11-2 (19 KO) record.

## Professional boxing record

| 58 fights | 45 wins | 11 losses |
| By knockout | 19 | 7 |
| By decision | 26 | 4 |
| Draws | 2 | 2 |
| No. | Result | Record | Opponent | Type | Round, time | Date | Location | Notes |
| 58 | Win | 45–11–2 | Colin McMillan | TKO | 8 (12) | 1992-09-26 | Olympia, London, England, U.K. | Won WBO featherweight title |
| 57 | Win | 44–11–2 | Dionisio Blanco | TKO | 4 (10) | 1992-07-03 | Envigado, Colombia | |
| 56 | Win | 43–11–2 | Alberto Zuluaga | PTS | 10 (10) | 1992-04-11 | Bogotá, Colombia | |
| 55 | Loss | 42–11–2 | Mario Fuentes | TKO | 4 (10) | 1991-11-22 | Arena Naucalpan, Naucalpan, Mexico | |
| 54 | Win | 42–10–2 | Omar Gonzalez | TKO | 4 (12) | 1991-07-31 | Cartagena, Colombia | Won vacant Colombian super-featherweight title |
| 53 | Loss | 41–10–2 | Ever Beleno | PTS | 10 (10) | 1991-06-14 | Cartagena, Colombia | |
| 52 | Loss | 41–9–2 | Joon Huh | KO | 2 (10) | 1991-02-03 | Geumho Citizen Gymnasium, Yeongcheon, South Korea | |
| 51 | Win | 41–8–2 | Juan De la Cruz | TKO | 7 (10) | 1990-11-10 | Puerto Nare, Colombia | |
| 50 | Loss | 40–8–2 | Luis Mendoza | TKO | 3 (12) | 1990-09-11 | Jai Alai Fronton, Miami, Florida, U.S. | For vacant WBA super-bantamweight title |
| 49 | Draw | 40–7–2 | Luis Mendoza | SD | 12 (12) | 1990-05-25 | Plaza de toros de Cartagena, Cartagena, Colombia | For vacant WBA super-bantamweight title |
| 48 | Win | 40–7–1 | Luis Navarro | KO | 2 (?) | 1990-02-17 | Apartadó, Colombia | |
| 47 | Win | 39–7–1 | Praphan Khamcha | UD | 10 (10) | 1989-11-18 | Samut Sakhon, Thailand | |
| 46 | Win | 38–7–1 | Deus James Pemberti | PTS | 8 (8) | 1989-07-15 | Barranquilla, Colombia | |
| 45 | Win | 37–7–1 | Angel Vargas | TKO | 4 (?) | 1989-04-29 | Roberto Clemente Coliseum, San Juan, Puerto Rico | |
| 44 | Win | 36–7–1 | Daniel Blanco | KO | 3 (?) | 1989-03-03 | Medellín, Colombia | |
| 43 | Win | 35–7–1 | Gustavo Espitia | KO | 3 (?) | 1989-01-28 | Apartadó, Colombia | |
| 42 | Win | 34–7–1 | Luis Berrio | KO | 4 (?) | 1988-12-16 | Barranquilla, Colombia | |
| 41 | Win | 33–7–1 | Juan Gomez Polo | PTS | 8 (8) | 1988-12-02 | Barranquilla, Colombia | |
| 40 | Win | 32–7–1 | Alvaro Narvaez | PTS | 12 (12) | 1988-10-07 | Bello, Colombia | |
| 39 | Win | 31–7–1 | Gustavo Espitia | KO | 1 (?) | 1988-09-10 | Colombia | |
| 38 | Win | 30–7–1 | Jaime Castellon | TD | 7 (12) | 1988-05-21 | Coliseo Vicente Díaz Romero, Bucaramanga, Colombia | |
| 37 | Win | 29–7–1 | Pedro Arroyo | MD | 10 (10) | 1988-03-30 | Holiday Beach Hotel, Willemstad, Curaçao | |
| 36 | Win | 28–7–1 | Manuel Mejia | TKO | 4 (12) | 1988-02-05 | Medellín, Colombia | |
| 35 | Win | 27–7–1 | Luis Mendieta | KO | 2 (?) | 1987-12-19 | Medellín, Colombia | |
| 34 | Win | 26–7–1 | Alvaro Bohorquez | PTS | 10 (10) | 1987-10-30 | Montería, Colombia | Won vacant Colombian featherweight title |
| 33 | Win | 25–7–1 | Eduardo Rodriguez | PTS | 8 (8) | 1987-08-25 | Laredo, Colombia | |
| 32 | Loss | 24–7–1 | Rafael Zuñiga | TKO | 2 (10) | 1987-05-25 | Cartagena, Colombia | |
| 31 | Win | 24–6–1 | Ley Umba Sengi | PTS | 8 (8) | 1986-10-10 | Palazzo Dello Sport, Cesena, Italy | |
| 30 | Win | 23–6–1 | Vicente Jorge | KO | 4 (?) | 1986-09-19 | Lerici, Italy | |
| 29 | Win | 22–6–1 | Faical Naifer | PTS | 8 (8) | 1986-07-04 | Porlezza, Italy | |
| 28 | Loss | 21–6–1 | Jim McDonnell | TKO | 7 (10) | 1986-05-07 | Royal Albert Hall, London, England, U.K. | |
| 27 | Loss | 21–5–1 | Valerio Nati | PTS | 10 (10) | 1985-10-12 | Palazzo Dello Sport, Cesena, Italy | |
| 26 | Loss | 21–4–1 | Kim Ji-won | UD | 15 (15) | 1985-03-30 | Suwon Gymnasium, Suwon, South Korea | For IBF super-bantamweight title |
| 25 | Win | 21–3–1 | José Cervantes | KO | 8 (10) | 1984-12-14 | Cartagena, Colombia | |
| 24 | Loss | 20–3–1 | Tommy Valoy | KO | 11 (12) | 1984-09-03 | Sentro Deportivo Korsou, Willemstad, Curaçao | For vacant WBC Continental Americas super-bantamweight title |
| 23 | Win | 20–2–1 | Jefferson Gomez | PTS | 10 (10) | 1984-06-29 | Buenaventura, Colombia | Won vacant Colombian super-bantamweight title |
| 22 | Win | 19–2–1 | Hilario Diaz | PTS | 10 (10) | 1984-05-24 | Caracas, Venezuela | |
| 21 | Win | 18–2–1 | Mario Livingston | PTS | 10 (10) | 1984-05-11 | San Andrés, Colombia | |
| 20 | Win | 17–2–1 | Bernardino Rubio | PTS | 8 (8) | 1984-02-12 | Medellín, Colombia | |
| 19 | Draw | 16–2–1 | Pedro Barrera | PTS | 10 (10) | 1983-12-23 | Barranquilla, Colombia | |
| 18 | Win | 16–2 | Antonio Nisperuza | PTS | 10 (10) | 1983-10-05 | Turbo, Colombia | |
| 17 | Loss | 15–2 | José Cervantes | KO | 4 (?) | 1983-07-15 | Cartagena, Colombia | |
| 16 | Win | 15–1 | Carlos Garcia | KO | 6 (10) | 1983-06-06 | Colombia | |
| 15 | Loss | 14–1 | Miguel Lora | PTS | 12 (12) | 1983-05-12 | Montería, Colombia | For vacant WBC Continental Americas bantamweight title |
| 14 | Win | 14–0 | Daniel Martinez | KO | 2 (?) | 1983-03-26 | Plaza de toros de Cartagena, Cartagena, Colombia | |
| 13 | Win | 13–0 | Henry Diaz | KO | 4 (?) | 1983-03-06 | Colombia | |
| 12 | Win | 12–0 | Miguel Maturana | TKO | 10 (10) | 1982-12-18 | Plaza Monumental, Cartagena, Colombia | Retained Colombian bantamweight title |
| 11 | Win | 11–0 | Homer Meza | PTS | 12 (12) | 1982-10-30 | Medellín, Colombia | Won Colombian bantamweight title |
| 10 | Win | 10–0 | Wilson Salgado | KO | 2 (?) | 1982-06-15 | Cartagena, Colombia | |
| 9 | Win | 9–0 | Francisco Alvarez | PTS | 10 (10) | 1982-04-17 | Cartagena, Colombia | |
| 8 | Win | 8–0 | Jose Rodriguez | PTS | 10 (10) | 1982-03-05 | Cartagena, Colombia | |
| 7 | Win | 7–0 | Valerio Zea | PTS | 10 (10) | 1981-12-15 | San Onofre, Colombia | |
| 6 | Win | 6–0 | Pedro Rengifo | PTS | 10 (10) | 1981-09-18 | Colombia | |
| 5 | Win | 5–0 | Rafael Correa | PTS | 8 (8) | 1981-08-09 | Colombia | |
| 4 | Win | 4–0 | Antonio Galviz | PTS | 8 (8) | 1981-07-17 | Coliseo Humberto Perea, Barranquilla, Colombia | |
| 3 | Win | 3–0 | Hector Franklin | PTS | 6 (6) | 1981-06-21 | Colombia | |
| 2 | Win | 2–0 | Alexis Klinger | PTS | 6 (6) | 1981-05-05 | Colombia | |
| 1 | Win | 1–0 | Juan Mercado | PTS | 6 (6) | 1981-04-27 | Colombia | |

## Life after boxing

After relinquishing the belt, the former champion's life was a tragic downward spiral. He was arrested on drug trafficking charges in the US a year after and spent four years in jail.

## Death

Palacio died of AIDS in a hospital in Medellín, Colombia on 14 November 2003. He was a few weeks short of his 41st birthday.