Juan Carlos Payano
Born	(1984-04-12) April 12, 1984 (age 39) Dominican Republic
Other names	Baby Pacquiao
Statistics
Weight(s)	Bantamweight
Height	1.65 m (5 ft 5 in)
Reach	164 cm (65 in)
Stance	Southpaw
Boxing record
Total fights	28
Wins	23
Wins by KO	11
Losses	5
Medal record Men's amateur boxing Representing  Dominican Republic Central American and Caribbean Games 2006 Cartagena Flyweight Pan American Games 2003 Santo Domingo Flyweight 2007 Rio Flyweight

Juan Carlos Payano (born April 12, 1984) is a Dominican professional boxer who held the WBA (Undisputed) and then concurrently the IBO bantamweight titles between 2014 and 2016. As an amateur he won two silver medals at the Pan American Games and a gold medal at the Central American and Caribbean Games.

Amateur career

At the 2003 Pan American Games in Santo Domingo, he lost to Cuba's Yuriorkis Gamboa in the Flyweight final, winning the silver medal.

He won the gold medal at the 2006 Cartagena games after defeating Cuban Yoandris Salinas.

At the 2007 Pan American Games, he won silver again after losing to Puerto Rico's McWilliams Arroyo in the final.

He compiled a record of 421 wins and 25 losses.^[1]

Olympic Games results

2004

• Defeated Bato-Munko Vankeev 26–18
• Lost to Jérôme Thomas 10–15

2008

• Defeated Jérôme Thomas 10–6
• Lost to Vincenzo Picardi 4–8

Professional career

On October 7, 2018, Payano battled Naoya Inoue for the WBA regular bantamweight title, as a part of the World Boxing Super Series quarter-final. Inoue caught Payano with a left jab, right hook combination just 1 minute and 10 seconds into the fight, sending Payano to the canvas for the KO win. This was Payano's first professional career knockout.^[2]

In his next fight, Payano bounced back with a unanimous decision win against Damien Vazquez. Payano was in control for most of the fight, winning almost every round on the judges' scorecards, 79-73, 80-71, 80-71.^[3]

In his following fight, Payano battled against Luis Nery. Payano was considered the underdog against the undefeated Mexican. Nery had his own way for most of the fight, landing the cleaner shots throughout the fight. In the ninth round, a perfectly placed left hook to the body by Nery send Payano to the canvas. Writhing in pain, Payano was not even able to attempt to beat the count, leading to a ninth-round KO win for Nery.^[4]

On September 26, 2020, Payano fought former champion Daniel Roman, who was ranked #3 by the Ring, WBA and WBC, and #4 by the WBO and #6 at super bantamweight at the time. Payano lost the fight via unanimous decision.^[5] Despite boxing off his back foot, Payano had a strong start in the fight. However, Roman turned up the pressure in the championship rounds, and was aggressive enough to secure the win.^[6]

Professional boxing record