Jesus Gonzales

Jesus Ernesto Gonzales (born 1985) is a Mexican-American former amateur boxer who was considered by boxing critics to be the United States top medal contender for the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens.

Amateur career

Gonzales won a silver medal at a tournament in Paris and a bronze medal at the 19 and under amateur world championships in Cuba.

In 2002, he participated at a pro-am undercard headlined by professional world champion Acelino Freitas in Phoenix, Arizona, Gonzales' hometown. Such undercards are very rare in boxing, if not almost non-existent.

Pro career

On June 12 of 2003, Gonzales surprised many of his fans by announcing he would turn professional soon after, under promoter Bob Arum. He cited amateur boxing politics as the reason why he decided not to wait for the 2004 Athens Olympic Games instead. In his professional debut, he defeated his opponent by first round knockout.

On October 4 of 2003, Gonzales scored one of the fastest knockouts in the history of boxing, needing only 16 seconds to defeat Josh Peters. Since this fight was shown as a part of the Erik Morales-Guty Espadas Jr. Pay Per View offerings, it was Gonzales' first fight on Pay Per View. One week later, he had almost exactly the same result, when he beat an opponent 17 seconds into their fight in Arizona. Yet one more week later, he beat Roy Smith, also in Phoenix, by a knockout at two minutes and twenty five seconds of round one. He won once again, on Halloween night, with another first round knockout, his fifth consecutive first round knockout. On December 5, he was extended beyond the first round for the first time in his career, sustaining a bloody nose before rallying to knock out opponent Nate Martin in round four.

For his first fight of 2004, he beat Vincent Moses by a knockout in round four, on January 31st, once again, in Phoenix. On March 26, he went the full distance for the first time as a professional, defeating Chris Grays by a six round unanimous decision.

On May 14 of that year, he went the full distance again, defeating Francisco Mendez over six rounds by unanimous decision. He followed that win with a rematch on June 18 against Chris Grays, who was defeated by knockout in four rounds the second time around.

Gonlales won three more fights, and then, on February 18, 2005, he made his first fight of that year, defeating Alberto Mercedes by an eight round unanimous decision, at the Phoenix suburb of Fountain Hills. He followed that win with another eight round unanimous decision, over Dumont Welliver, on May 28 at Los Angeles.

On September 17 of the same year, Gonzales suffered his first professional defeat, being knocked out in eight rounds by Jose Luis Zertuche.

Gonzales was brought up being named "Ernie". He is 17-1 with 10 knockouts as a professional.