BoxRec

Rodolfo "Gato" Gonzalez
Jim Amato
You would think that a boxer who won his first 52 bouts would get some recognition, especially if he won 50 of those fights by knockouts, which is quite an impressive streak that Rodolfo "Gato" Gonzalez started in 1959. Nevertheless, there would be many turns ahead for Rodolfo on the road to stardom.

Rodolfo Gonzalez was born in Guadalajara, Mexico in 1945. All 52 of his wins took place in Mexico against boxers with less then stellar records. Still, he was learning his trade. Gonzalez made his U.S. debut in 1963 and suffered his first loss when he was stopped in the tenth round by Licho Guerrero at the famous Olympic Auditorium.

Gonzalez would not return to the ring for nearly three years. When he returned, he lost on points to a pretty good fighter named Bobby Valdez. A return bout ended as a first round technical draw, so Rodolfo and Bobby hooked up a third time. Valdez halted Rodolfo in the ninth round. Finding little gold in California, Gonzalez went to Las Vegas and won three straight before dropping a decision to tough Alton Colter.

http://www.boxingtribune.com/index.php? ... cle&id=941

http://www.BoxingTribune.com

Gonzalez is one of the true class acts of boxing and just simply a wonderful human being. A very humble person who could knock an opponent silly with either hand. Sadly he does not get the recognition that he deserves. As great as Duran was and will all the praise that Duran gets for his days at 135, which it is all certainly just, his camp did not want him to face Gonzalez. It would have been a hell of a good fight with Duran likely coming out on top, but not before he felt all that Gonzalez had to offer.

Barry, normally I love anything written by Jimmy Amato but there were definite issues I had with his last two pieces on Eddie Machen and Rodolfo Gonzalez. The Machen piece may not have been his fault but it bothered me to see a piece on Eddie Machen but using Zora Folley's photo. Other than that the text was fine but the wrong photo sort of stuck in my craw. As for the Gonzalez piece, it seemed to mechanical, like it was gleaned from a record book. It didn't tell the whole story. Such as rattling off 52 straight wins but not mentioning he turned pro around the age of 14. Or that the reason he left the game for a couple of years because he was diagnosed or misdiagnosed with cancer. Or that the Cervantes fight against an all-time great deserves more than a byline because it was a knock down drag out fight. I'm being anal here. I always like Jimmy's pieces and I always look forward to them.

Scartissue

I haven't read the article, but I know Gonzalez!

Someone started a Gonzales thread at cyberboxingzone a few years ago that he regularly contributed to. Last I looked it was still going strong. It's great to see fighters having a chat to the fans

Yeah...that's one of the better threads on the net, along with several others on that forum.

Hello everyone.

I am Rodolfo"Gato"Gonzalez. The one who beat Chango Carmona for the lightweight championship of the world on November 10th 1972. I want to thank you all for all your compliments.
I don't know how many of you were present that night of my fight with Carmona. He was 3 to 1 favorite and many people lost big money that night. As I got down from the ring. I had my manager Jacky McCoy Jesse Reid and Cannon Ball Green and several police officers around me and I was walking down the isle some guy got into through the police and hit me so hard. I went down to floor. The police arrested the man but he probably was one of those sore loosers.

The following is my website put together for me by my friend Dan Henley who is one of the world'd best and most detail writer. You'll see what I mean after you read the article

"WHAT MAKES A FIGHTER HALL WORTHY"

www.elgatogonzalez.com

Thank you all and God bless you.

Rodolfo"Gato"Gonzalez