- Betulio González
Betulio Segundo González (born
October 24 ,1949 ) is a former boxer fromVenezuela , who is considered a national hero in Venezuela. He is considered by many to be Venezuela's greatest world champion in boxing history. A combatant of 91 bouts, he fought until eleven months before he turned forty, the mandatory age for professional fighters to retire in Venezuela.A native of Maracaibo,
Zulia he made his professional boxing debut onApril 24 of 1968, knocking outElio Monzat in the third round at Gonzalez's hometown. Gonzalez won his first ten fights, including his Caracas debut, onNovember 25 of that same year, with a ten round decision overEvencio Bruquillos .On
August 1 ,1969 , his winning streak came to a halt, when he was held to a ten round draw (tie), byJuan José Brizuela in Caracas. He beat Brizuela by a ten round decision in aSeptember 16 rematch, then challengedHector Criollo for the Venezuelan Flyweight title onOctober 10 . He won his first belt by knocking out Criollo in seven rounds to win the regional title.On
March 6 of 1970, he suffered a somewhat surprising defeat, at the hands ofFelix Marquez , who had only one prior professional fight. He was knocked out by Marquez in six rounds. He followed this with a win overNestor Jimenez and a loss toIgnacio Espinal ; both Jimenez and Espinal would later go on to fight for world titles.On
April 1 ,1971 , he got his first world title try, in what also was his first fight abroad. FightingMasao Ohba in Tokyo for the WBA world Flyweight title, he dropped a fifteen round unanimous decision.After three more wins, he had his second chance at a world title: on
November 20 , he faced former world championErbito Salavarria for the WBC's vacant world title. The fight resulted in a controversial fifteen round draw: TheZulia state boxing commission alleged that Salavarria had been givensugar orillegal drugs during the fight, and sent the WBC a bottle with which the sugar or drugs had supposedly been administered. The WBC wanted Gonzalez to be recognized as world champion, but Gonzalez declined.With the WBC title declared vacant, Gonzalez got a second chance at it, and, on
June 3 of 1972, he became a world champion by knocking outSocrates Batoto in four rounds. He lost the title in his first defense, being handed a tenth round knockout byVenice Borkhorsor onSeptember 29 at Bangkok.Gonzalez had four wins in a row after that loss, and, on
August 4 ,1973 , he became a world Flyweight champion for the second time, when he claimed the vacant WBA title by defeatingMiguel Canto by a fifteen round majority decision in Maracaibo.On
November 17 , he retained the title with an eleventh round knockout overAlberto Morales . OnMay 19 ,1974 , he facedShoji Oguma , another world champion boxer, in a non-title, ten round bout held at Tokyo. Gonzalez prevailed by a ten round decision. OnJuly 20 , Gonzalez fought inItaly againstFranco Udella , a world Jr. Flyweight champion, and he retained the WBA world Flyweight title with a tenth round knockout.Oguma became the WBA world Flyweight champion when he beat Gonzalez, on
November 1 , with a fifteen round split decision in Tokyo.After one more win, Gonzalez and Canto met once again, this time with Canto as WBC world champion. Canto defeated Gonzalez by a fifteen round split decision on
May 24 ,1975 atMonterrey ,Mexico .Gonzalez then won eight fights in a row, before fighting for the
Fecarbox regional Flyweight title. OnJune 20 ,1976 , he won that title by knocking outHildo Roche in two rounds. OnNovember 10 , he and Canto had a third match; Canto once again retained the WBC world Flyweight title with a fifteen round split decision, in a fight held at Caracas.Gonzalez won eight more fights in a row before being given another chance at becoming world Flyweight champion. On
August 12 ,1978 , he joined the exclusive group of boxers who have become world champions three times in the same division, by defeatingGuty Espadas, Sr. by a fifteen round majority decision in Caracas. This fight proved controversial as well, as Gonzalez appeared to be knocked down in the last round, but the fight's referee chose not to count it as a knockdown.On
November 4 , he retained the title against the famed but malignedChile an fighterMartin Vargas , a national hero in his country himself, with a twelfth round knockout. Then, he and Oguma proceeded to have a third encounter, and, onJanuary 1 ,1979 , they fought to a fifteen round draw inHamamatsu .Gonzalez returned to Japan on July of 1979, where, on
July 6 , he avenged his previous defeat to Oguma, by retaining the title with a twelfth round knockout. But in his next defense, againstLuis Ibarra , he lost a fifteen round decision and the world title onNovember 17 .Gonzalez then embarked on another winning streak, which reached seven victories in a row, including two knockouts over future world champion
Peter Mathebula , in ten and six rounds, respectively. This winning streak stopped when he challengedJuan Herrera for the WBA world Flyweight title onDecember 19 ,1981 . Trying to become a world Flyweight champion for the fourth time, Gonzalez was knocked out in seven rounds.Santos Laciar went on to beat Herrera for the WBA world title, and, after Gonzalez got another win, the two boxing legends met, onSeptember 14 ,1982 , at a Maracaibohotel . In what turned out to be his last try at becoming world Flyweight champion for the fourth time, Gonzalez lost a split decision to the Argentine boxer.After losing by a twelve round decision to
Alberto Castro for theFedelatin Flyweight title onJuly 7 ,1984 , Gonzalez announced his retirement for the first time.In 1988, however, he returned to boxing for one more fight: having lost on
November 28 to future world championRodolfo Blanco by knockout in eight rounds, he retired, eleven months before mandatory retirement in Venezuela.Gonzalez retired with a record of 76 wins, 12 losses and 3 draws, with 48 wins by
knockout .He became a household name all over
Latin America during his tenures as world champion, especially after the Spanish boxing magazines,The Ring En Espanol andGuantes helped popularize him.References
* [http://www.boxing-records.com/palm/voirpalma.phtml?boxeur=gonzalbe.html Boxing-Records]
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