Remembering Jose Santos Moreno

I just received the news of the passing of long-time Orlando Salido team member Jose Santos Moreno who suffered a fatal heart attack just a couple of days ago. Moreno will best be remembered as part of the training team that helped rugged and relentless featherweight Salido climb from a gritty scrapper in the early stages of his career, to becoming a talented, multiple world champion.

Moreno, along with lifetime Salido trainer Victor “Chino” Barron, who sadly passed in 2020 at age 85, worked with many Mexican fighters. However, he is most known for transforming Salido into a skilled boxer to compliment his iron-like toughness and grit. The trainer had worked with Salido over the last couple of decades and was there for his professional run that saw him capture the IBF, WBA and WBO featherweight, along with the WBO super featherweight, world titles.

Salido was very loyal to his team, many of whom had been with him since he was a young boy in the amateurs. Moreno was in the corner that saw Salido, now working on his political career in Mexico, in bouts against Mexican legend Juan Manuel Marquez, two huge wins over Juan Manuel Lopez, Mikey Garcia, a stunning upset win over amateur legend Vasyl Lomachenko, and bouts with Roman Martinez and Francisco Vargas, to name but a few.

Speaking from Las Vegas, long-time Salido advisor Sean Gibbons had nothing but fond memories of the years he watched Moreno work with Salido.

“Santos was such a nice guy”, said Gibbons. “I saw how dedicated he was to Salido and how much Salido loved and appreciated someone he knew was a vital part of his team”, he said. “They all worked so hard and we had a great run and they were all so thrilled with the world titles from their man ‘Siri’ who fought his heart out for them. This is shocking news and a huge loss. My thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends”, said Gibbons. “He was a good man who will be missed”. 

Rest in peace, Champ.