RSSAlfonso Gomez
Friday, August 31, 2007
Leonard, Gomez Visit ESPN’s FNF
Sugar Ray Leonard and Alfonso Gomez visit ESPN’s Friday Night Fights as special guest analysts tonight at 10 PM EST. Shamone Alvarez will take on Germaine Sanders in the night’s main event.
Monday, July 16, 2007
Goodbye to Gatti the Great, Again
Arturo is probably my favorite boxer active today. What tremendous fights he has given boxing fans. The trilogy with Mickey Ward and his wars with Wilson Rodriguez and Gabe Ruelas, etc… He is a warrior in every sense of the word.
As much as I like Arturo I feel he has without a doubt reached the end of the line after being defeated by Alfonso Gomez. This was a fight that Arturo was not supposed to lose..Gatti could expect a tough fight but he was expected to go out a winner. To me Gomez is a naturally talented boxer with a great personality. He really won over the fans on the “Contender” show. Still I thought he had limitations and I really didn’t think he could beat Arturo Gatti. Not even a fading version of Gatti. Whatever Gomez could do, Artuto could do better. Every match up, jab, hand speed, power, defense and ring generalship all favored Arturo. This is not a knock against Gomez who can be quite a clever boxer when he chooses to. Gomez also has some sting to his punches and is better defensively then he is given credit for. He just does not do these things as well as Arturo. Or so I thought. I also thought Gatti had the edge in heart because of his proven track record against world class opposition. Gomez though had shown great heart in his performances too.
Continue reading "Goodbye to Gatti the Great, Again"
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Gatti-Gomez Conference Call Quotes
The following is a summary of the media conference call that took place earlier today discussing the upcoming bout between Arturo Gatti and Alfonso Gomez on July 14th at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, NJ courtesy of Main Events.
Featured on the conference call are Gatti, Gomez, Main Events CEO Kathy Duva, and Executive Producer of The Contender, Jeff Wald.
Continue reading "Gatti-Gomez Conference Call Quotes"
Permalink
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Welterweight Mania!
Woooooooooooo!
HBO will be televising a split-site tripleheader on July 14th. What? Yeah, I’ve never heard of such a thing either but here goes nothin’…
Three welterweight bouts will be televised on HBO that night:
The opening bout will be Kermit Cintron defending his IBF Welterweight Title for the first time against Walter Matthysse from Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, NJ. The second bout will feature the uber-popular Arturo Gatti, fighting for the ninth straight time in Atlantic City, in a 10-round affair against former Contender star Alfonso Gomez.
The final bout of the night will be Antonio Margarito making the 8th straight defense of his WBO Welterweight Title against mandatory challenger Paul Williams. A location for Margarito-Williams has not yet been selected but officials have stated that the possible location has been narrowed down to two sites: The Home Depot Center in Carson, CA or the Gibson Amphitheater in Universal City, CA.
Apparently Gatti’s camp was very picky over who his next opponent would be and it caused quite the delay in getting a deal between HBO and Main Events completed:
HBO and Main Events had spent the last few weeks locked in a disagreement over Gatti’s opponent. The network had pared its wish list down to having Gatti fight either former lightweight titlist Paul Spadafora, who is 2-0 on a comeback, or Steve Forbes, another former “Contender” star and former junior lightweight titlist who lost a highly controversial decision to Demetrius Hopkins last month in an exciting fight.
Gatti’s team didn’t like either style for him and preferred lesser opponents such as Dmitriy Salita or Edgar Santana, neither of whom HBO would approve.
HBO gave Main Events a tentative OK on Gomez earlier this month and it made a deal with his handlers. But a few days later, on April 7, “Contender” first-season runner up Peter Manfredo—who had lost a rematch to Gomez on the series—was wiped out in three rounds by super middleweight champion Joe Calzaghe. That loss gave HBO second thoughts about using another untested “Contender” boxer against Gatti in the final fight of his HBO contract.
However, when the Margarito-Williams fight came together and Cintron-Matthysse, another potentially explosive fight, was pitched for the telecast, HBO agreed to take Gomez. With Gatti’s HBO contract coming to an end, Main Events also agreed to give HBO the right of first negotiation and a matching right on his next fight.
I’m not surprised that they were so selective of Gatti’s foe. If he loses one more time, he’s pretty much done fighting-wise and HBO most likely won’t sign him to a new deal.
Permalink
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
Gomez Comments on Concepcion Victory
Just back from his first trip across the pond, a triumphant Alfonso Gomez spoke about his win last weekend over Martin Concepcion.
Gomez scored a TKO in the 7th round of the fight, which was one of eight matches held March 30 in Newcastle, England, billed as the first annual Contender UK vs. USA “Sugar Ray Leonard Cup.” Gomez admitted to feeling frustrated in the early rounds, wanting to get aggressive but remaining wary of the punching power of Concepcion. “I thought he was going to use his size and power advantages to pressure and tire me out, but to my surprise he tried to box me and use his jab,” Gomez said. “That threw me off a little bit because I was prepared for a war on the inside.”
“I knew I could knock him out,” Gomez continued. “I just needed to get the punches in. I used my jab and better skills to connect, but I didn’t want to rush in to finish him because of his power, which I felt in the 4th round when he caught me with a good left hook.” Concepcion also had apparently done his homework, which added to the challenge.
Continue reading "Gomez Comments on Concepcion Victory"