Juan Carlos Gómez

Juan Carlos Gómez (born July 26, 1973 in Havana, Cuba) is a professional boxer. Gómez, a former Cuban amateur star, has boxed professionally out of both Germany and Miami, Florida.

Early years and defection

He defected from Cuba during a stay in Germany."I didn't choose boxing," said Cuban defector Juan Carlos Gomez in a recent interview. "They chose it for me in Cuba. I wanted to become a baseball player. That was always my dream. But, you know, in Cuba you are not allowed to make your own decisions."

Pro

The southpaw turned pro as a cruiser for Universum box promotions.On February 21, 1998, in Mar Del Plata, Argentina, Gomez wrested the WBC Cruiserweight crown from reigning champion, Marcelo Fabian Dominguez via a unanimous decision.

Nicknamed "Black Panther", Gomez ruled the cruiserweight division from 1998-2001, successfully defending his WBC Cruiserweight Title twelve times.Among his notable defenses were those against Dominguez (rematch), Imamu Mayfield and smaller Jorge Castro (boxer) who was KOd for the first time. James Toney declined a title shot when he was mandatory and later fought and beat Vassily Jirov.

He vacated the title in February 2002 in order to move up to the Heavyweight ranks.

Heavyweight

In 2001 Gómez he had tested the waters in the heavyweight division and beaten durable veteran Al Cole (another former cruiser champ) by TKO 6. Gomez then moved back down to defend his title against Pietro Aurino, and after defeating Aurino he moved up to heavyweight permanently.

Gomez has had less success at heavyweight, capturing wins over Sinan Samil Sam and David Defiagbon, but was shockingly TKO'd by fellow Cuban Yanqui Diaz in the first round in 2004.

Gómez defeated Don King promoted Oliver McCall via a ten round decision, a result which was changed shortly thereafter to a no contest after Gomez failed a post-fight drug test due to a presence of cocaine [http://www.usatoday.com/sports/boxing/2005-12-16-gomez-cocaine_x.htm] . Gomez vehemently denied the charge and backed this up by producing a negative sample where no drugs were found in his system. [http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2006/Feb-19-Sun-2006/sports/5952291.html] . He converted to the Black Muslims after that but still confesses to drink alcohol.He returned to the ring on December 15th, 2006 and in October 19 of 2007, once again outpointed Oliver McCall.

On September 27, 2008, at the Color Line Arena in Hamburg, Germany, Gómez defeated Vladimir Virchis to become the #1 contender for the WBC heavyweight title. [cite web
title =Inkin takes WBO 168lb title; Gomez defeats Virchis!
publisher =Fightnews.com
date =2007-09-27
url =http://www.fightnews.com/fightnews_2/headlines//EkkkVuluVuKPwArWJi.html
accessdate =2008-09-27 ]

External links

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