Wilfredo Gómez

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Wilfredo Gómez bigraphy, stories - Puerto Rican boxer

Wilfredo Gómez : biography

29 October 1956 –

Wilfredo Gómez (born October 29, 1956), sometimes referred to as Bazooka Gómez, is a former boxer and three time world champion. Gómez is frequently mentioned among the best Puerto Rican boxers of all time by sports journalists and analysts, along with Félix "Tito" Trinidad, Wilfred Benítez, Héctor "Macho" Camacho, Edwin Rosario, and Carlos Ortíz. His 17 consecutive knockouts in championship defenses is a record for all boxing divisions.

Biography

Gómez was born in a poor area of Las Monjas in San Juan, Puerto Rico. He has admitted to newspapers that, as a little child, he had to fight off bullies on Las Monjas’ streets. He has told some Puerto Rican newspapers that he felt he was born to fight because of that situation. Gómez’s father was a taxi driver and his mother was a homemaker. Gómez himself reportedly used a bicycle as means of transportation when he was young, and he sold candy to earn pocket money before becoming an amateur boxer.

Featherweight division

He then re-tried winning the Featherweight title and this time, he achieved his dream, winning his second world title by dethroning Juan Laporte, a fellow Puerto Rican who had won the title left vacant after Sanchez died. He beat Laporte by a 12 round unanimous decision. This time, however, it didn’t last that long. Ahead on all scorecards, Gómez was the victim of a rally by Azumah Nelson of Ghana who knocked him out in 11 rounds in San Juan, December 8, 1984.

Gómez wanted either a rematch with Nelson or a shot at Junior Lightweight world champ Rocky Lockridge of New Jersey, whichever came first. Lockridge was first to offer Gómez a try, and the 2 battled a closely scored 15 round bout in San Juan, with Gómez being given a unanimous 15 round decision, which many experts have said Lockridge deserved, but also which in the opinion of most who saw it live, was a justified decision.

This reign also came to an end quick, Gómez being handed his 3rd loss at the hands of young Alfredo Layne by knockout in 9 rounds. Layne lost the title in his own first defense to South Africa’s Brian Mitchell, and it became obvious Gómez’s best years had gone by, so he retired after this fight.

Professional championships

Professional career

After this inauspicious debut, he reeled off a streak of 32 knockout wins in a row. Including wins over Fuentes, who was dispatched in 2 rounds in a rematch, and future world champion Alberto Davila, who lasted 9 rounds before being defeated. His 32 knockout wins in a row make him the world champion with the longest knockout streak in history, placing him in third place behind Lamar Clark (44) and Billy Fox (43) for the all-time knockout streak. Among world champions, Gómez had the longest knockout winning streak; neither Clark nor Fox won world titles.

Gómez’s knockout streak caught the eye of the WBC Super Bantamweight champion Dong Kyun Yum of South Korea, who travelled to San Juan, Puerto Rico to defend his crown against Gómez. Yum had a promising start, dropping Gómez 30 seconds into the bout, but Gómez picked himself up and eventually won the crown, his first world title, with a 12th round knockout. His first defense took him to the Far East, where he beat former world champion Royal Kobayashi in 3 rounds in Tokyo. Kobayashi had lasted 5 rounds vs Alexis Argüello and 10 rounds vs Roberto Durán when Duran was a Featherweight. Next was Ryu Tomonari in a small city of Thailand. He lasted 2 rounds.

Gómez’s streak reached 32 knockouts in a row. Those 32 knockouts in a row included what is generally considered to be his biggest victory ever, a five round defeat of World Bantamweight champion Carlos Zarate, who was 55-0 with 54 knockout wins coming into their San Juan bout. Also included in that streak was future world champion Leo Cruz, beaten in 13 rounds at San Juan. After recording his 32rd. knockout win in a row, he moved up in weight to face the world Featherweight champion Salvador Sánchez of Mexico. He lost to Salvador Sanchez by 8th round TKO.