Nice piece on "the lunatic"

[bennie]

In today's Telegraph, Mike Lewis does a nice piece on a man Alex Arthur refers to as "that lunatic", with some justification:

The late Sonny Liston, who famously trained to James Brown's Night Train, fervently hoped one day someone would pen a blues song especially for fighters. "It will be kinda slow with a real mournful refrain," he said. Michael Gomez, the Mancunian super-featherweight whose tempestuous life story reads like a film script, would undoubtedly concur.

Gomez is that rare creature: a seemingly washed-up boxer who hauled himself back from the brink. Once one of Britain's finest prospects, the 26-year-old - whose early years were in institutions - at one point seemed hell-bent on sacrificing everything he had achieved.

Acquitted of manslaughter following a fight outside a Manchester nightclub, Gomez was subsequently knifed in a street fight, wounded in a road-rage incident and convicted on more than one occasion of drink-driving. Clearly his was a career not built to last.

Stopped in eight rounds by Londoner Kevin Lear in June 2002, the erratic Gomez seemed destined for obscurity, or worse. Instead, he tenaciously turned his career around with a series of impressive displays culminating in his fifth-round stoppage of the much-hyped Alex Arthur in Edinburgh last October.

"There was a time when I doubted I could ever get back," said Gomez, who on Saturday defends his World Boxing Union crown against veteran Ugandan Justin Juuko at the Kingsway Sports Centre in Widnes.

"That was when I was sat in the pub acting like an idiot. It was my girlfriend who told me to give boxing one more go." Now older and seemingly wiser, he insists his troubles are in the past. He clearly relishes a fight with the dangerous Juuko, who has fought the likes of Floyd Mayweather Jnr and Miguel Cotto.

"I've proved myself at British, European and Commonwealth level," said Gomez. "This fight will show whether I can cut it on the world stage. When I heard they were putting me in with Juuko I felt an adrenalin rush not unlike fear - and I'm a guy who's already died twice." Gomez ended up on a life-support machine after a car accident and momentarily 'died' in hospital following a street stabbing.

"Juuko is in exactly the same position that I was against Alex Arthur," continued Gomez. "His career is on the line and he knows that if he loses he has nowhere to go. He's coming to Manchester to fight some kid called Gomez for a world title and there won't be no second chance.

"I don't know who wants a Gomez win the most; me or the other British super-feathers. Guys like Willie Limond, Craig Docherty and Arthur know that if I lose to Juuko I'll be coming back on to the British scene looking to beat them up."

[TheRiverCityHippy]

nice article bennie,
he`s a tough little fella alright.
i remember having admiration but feeling sorry for him when he was doing a interview on sky one time.
i cant even remember what fight it was or even if he won or lost but he suddenly burst into a heartfelt rant and started saying he`s had no breaks in life and had done things the tough way, then he tossed his sombrero away distainfully, gestured at his flashy shorts and said something along the lines of " look at all this shit they make me wear! i dont want gimmicks i`m a fighter in my own right, my names sullivan (i think thats the name he said) not f@*$ing gomez."
warren was next to him and his face was a picture :P
always had a soft spot for gutsy fellas like him.

[MightyWarrior]

Michael Armstrong I think it is. He deserves a film about his life, he comes over as the UKs version of Johnny Tapia at times.
That'd be a good press conference if those two fought.

[TheRiverCityHippy]

yeah, armstrong rings a bell, thanks mw
he`s a character though, in years to come i can see his story will being a popular one to future generations of boxing fans, especially if his career has an indian summer.