BoxRec

Puerto Rican boxing legend Gomez dies aged 69

Three-weight world champion Wilfredo 'Bazooka' Gomez has died aged 69.

The Puerto Rican won the WBC super-bantamweight title, WBC featherweight belt and WBA super-featherweight crown during a career in which he was renowned as a heavy puncher.

Gomez fought in 48 fights and won 44, with 42 by virtue of knockout, and was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame, external in 1995.

Former president of the sanctioning body the WBO Paco Valcarcel confirmed the passing of his compatriot.

"He passed away a few hours ago, the one to whom I owe having entered the great family of international boxing," wrote Valcacel on social media on Saturday.

"Rest in peace, my eternal champion Wilfredo 'Bazooka' Gomez."

Gomez's best wins came against fellow greats Mexico's Carlos Zarate, two-weight champion Lupe Pintor, domestic rival Juan Laporte and American Rocky Lockridge.

Zarate was his finest win, stopping the then 52-0 knockout specialist in five rounds in front of his home fans in San Juan to retain his WBC super-bantamweight title.

Competing during a stacked era of talent at his weights, Gomez suffered heartbreak in two of his biggest fights when he was knocked out by Salvador Sanchez in 1981 and Azumah Nelson in 1984 - both at featherweight for the WBC world title.

The WBC and its president Mauricio Sulaiman called Gomez "one of the greatest icons in the history of the sport" and that he had passed away "after being hospitalised for the past two weeks due to respiratory complications".

"Universally recognized as one of the greatest ring legends of all time and a ruthless brawler who holds the historic record of 17 consecutive super bantamweight title defenses - all won by knockout - Wilfredo Gomez leaves behind an indelible legacy both inside and outside the ring," a statement said., external

As an amateur, Gomez competed at the 1972 Olympics aged just 15 and at 17 would win gold at the inaugural World Amateur Championships in Cuba.

Hall of Famer Wilfredo Gomez, three-division champion, dies at 69

Puerto Rico’s greatest fighter had historic 122-pound title reign

Wilfredo Gomez, a three-division world champion, Hall of Famer, prolific puncher, and widely regarded as the greatest boxer in the rich history of Puerto Rico, died on Saturday night. He was 69.

Gomez was hospitalized last week due to respiratory problems, his son told media outlets in Puerto Rico, and his death was confirmed by Paco Valcarcel, the former president of the Puerto Rico-based WBO, who was close to Gomez.

“He passed away a few hours ago, the one to who I owe having entered the great family of international boxing,” Valcarcel posted on social media. “Rest in peace, my eternal champion Wilfredo ‘Bazooka’ Gomez.”

Mauricio Sulaiman, the president of the WBC, which sanctioned 21 of the 23 world title fights Gomez participated in, offered his condolences via social media.

“Wilfredo Gomez, one of the greatest fighters of all time, is now resting in peace. May his memory be eternal.”

Gomez (44-3-1, 42 KOs), nicknamed “Bazooka” because of his prodigious punching power — in 2003 The Ring magazine ranked him as the 13th greatest puncher in history — won world titles at junior featherweight, featherweight and junior lightweight during his 1974 to 1989 career. But it was his long and dominating reign in the 122-pound junior featherweight division that made him a legend.

Born Oct. 29, 1956, Gomez was an accomplished amateur, going 96-3, representing Puerto Rico in the 1972 Olympics, and winning gold at the 1974 World Amateur Championships before turning pro later that year.

His pro debut ended in a six-round draw but he would win his next 32 fights in a row by knockout over the next seven years before suffering his next blemish in an eighth-round knockout loss challenging iconic WBC featherweight champion Salvador Sanchez in perhaps the most famous fight in the history of the intense Mexico-Puerto Rico boxing rivalry.

Gomez was the reigning 122-pound champion when he moved up to challenge 126-pound champion Sanchez at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas in the fight promoter Don King dubbed “The Battle of the Little Giants” on Aug. 21, 1981, and they produced a competitive and dramatic classic in which Gomez suffered two knockdowns in the stoppage loss.

Four years earlier, Gomez rose from a first-round knockdown and went on to stop South Korea’s Dong Kyun Yum to win the WBC junior featherweight crown via 12th-round knockout in San Juan.

It was the start of a historic title reign in which Gomez made a division-record 17 title defenses and won all of them by knockout, including four after he returned to the division to defend the title after the loss to Sanchez.

During his 1977 to 1982 reign, Gomez beat many top fighters, including a pair Hall of Famers in Carlos Zarate and Lupe Pintor, both Mexican greats, who were reigning WBC bantamweight champions when they moved up in weight to challenger Gomez.

In perhaps his finest hour, Gomez stopped Zarate, who entered the fight 54-0 with 53 knockouts, in the fifth round in 1978 in San Juan. And in his final defense before vacating the title to move up to featherweight, Gomez, who was trailing on one scorecard going into the 14th round, finally dropped Pintor twice for the knockout victory in one of the most legendary action battles ever. The third round was picked as the 1982 round of the year by The Ring magazine.

It took place at the Superdome in New Orleans as the co-feature of Thomas Hearns’ 15-round decision over Puerto Rican great Wilfred Benitez to win the WBC junior middleweight title in December 1982.

In 1984, Gomez challenged fellow Puerto Rican and WBC featherweight champion Juan Laporte in San Juan and won a lopsided unanimous 12-round decision.

Gomez made his first defense in San Juan later in 1984 and lost the title by 11th-round knockout to Hall of Famer Azumah Nelson in a competitive fight.

Gomez then moved up to the 130-pound junior lightweight division and got an immediate shot at WBA titleholder Rocky Lockridge in May 1985 in San Juan, where Gomez won a 15-round majority decision to become a three-division champion. But in his first defense he lost the title by ninth-round knockout to Panama’s Alfredo Layne, also in San Juan, in May 1986.

Gomez would fight twice more, winning both bouts by knockout against lesser opposition in 1988 and 1989.

Gomez, who struggled with drug addiction in retirement, was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1995.