There was a new champion and there was no escape. Leonardo Cruz managed to make it as far as round thirteen but lasting longer only served to increase tomorrow’s soreness. It all seemed thoroughly hopeless. Who to fight for defense number six was a question that could be solved by looking four pounds south.
Carlos Zarate was Mexican, perfect for an icy rivalry, but more enticing was his video game record, 51 knockouts in 52 fights. It the kind of tally almost certainly forged from wasting taxi drivers and part-time butchers. On the contrary Zarate had done away with the best on offer. Another little crate of dynamite called Alfonso Zamora was chewed up and spat out in less than four rounds. A Zarate win was definitely on the cards. A tough fight was a dead cert.
Strangely enough it was even competitive.
From the offset Gomez exhibited superior movement, drifting out of range, zigzagging near the ropes. Zarate’s legs looked like two sticks of wood in comparison, not much bending at the knees. Each time Gomez landed something his countrymen let him know their approval. In round four a counter hook dumped the Mexican. The crowd was deafening. Defiantly Wilfredo gloated over the fallen. Another knockdown and then came round five.
Gomez started this round viciously, even by his standards. Looping hooks turned those wooden legs to jelly, sending Zarate into the ropes, and then he was decked again. Still in destroy mode Gomez blatantly lamped him on the head when down. In Mexico this would have been heavily punished but with thousands of Puerto Ricans going bananas this wasn’t the time or place for by-the-book officiating. The right man won and super-bantamweight contenders felt that bit more vulnerable.
With his expressive face, well-groomed moustache and curly do, Gomez wasn’t a bad looking cat. Good times were had outside the gym. Money had also greatly improved; initially buying his dad a taxi after turning pro, now swanky pads and sports cars weren’t a problem. And the beauty was (similar to Ray Robinson) Gomez had his eye on the small print. This was a fighter in the driving seat of his career … for now.
Seven more challengers were put out of their misery. The success of Gomez continued to snowball at a time when Muhammad Ali was a sorry sight indeed. At twenty years of age Wilfredo was doing a lot better than The Greatest, but things were getting trickier. Quite muscular for a man of his inches, the scales had been giving him jip. A move up to featherweight was an inevitability which he had drawn out, though of all the champions there have been at 126 lbs., there could have been an easier touch waiting for him than Salvador Sanchez.
Looking back you wonder how Sanchez was the underdog. Inside eight rounds, after sampling all kinds of his own medicine, Gomez saw the guy in the white shirt close in for a cuddle. Scalding Carlos Padilla was the start of a frustration which would burn intensely for the next year.
The ironies in a man’s life are not few and a classic one in Wilfredo’s was that his insistence on having control of his career ended up removing those who were of most help. Don King was good at encouraging these things and his presence grew. Wherever Gomez thought he would end up he knew he’d get there by fighting. Roberto Duran’s record of concussive defenses at lightweight was already history but Gomez racked up another three, taking him to sixteen.
The last defense at Wilfredo’s premier weight didn’t promise much. Lupe Pintor had beaten Zarate though whether he deserved the decision is another question. He was also floored to boot; floored by the guy Gomez had obliterated. It was part of a Puerto Rican doubleheader with countryman Wilfred Benitez tackling Thomas Hearns in the main event. Things were usually pretty explosive when The Hitman showed up, not so on the night, but what came before would have trumped most fights you could care to name.
When the best rounds of a fight are three and twelve you know it hasn’t followed a regular pattern. It was high-tempo, gritty, but there were times when combinations seemed to last three whole minutes. Gomez poured everything on Lupe, pinning him to the ropes, and then, having digested punches that thudded through the speakers, the Mexican would start ripping in left uppercuts, inflaming that fragile skin, invigorated at the fact he had absorbed punches you weren’t supposed to.
Before being picked up from the danger zone, Gomez was wobbled at the end of the twelfth. The puncher looked like he had used up every last magazine and ration of strength. Many a brave fighter would have gotten on their bike under these circumstances but Gomez just came out with the same old intentions. When Pintor was finally done in the fourteenth he wasn’t knocked senseless. It didn’t look like he could stomach another round.
Held above his team for all to admire, Gomez had reached the summit of his warpath. Long-time manager Yamil Chade was soon fired and five days later Salvador Sanchez was tragically killed in a car crash, eliminating Gomez’s sole motivation. Suddenly life didn’t make much sense.
Pressing forward usually solved everything and so he continued to do so. Juan Laporte was relieved of his WBC featherweight title, a curious, possibly fictitious decision win, but Azumah Nelson was too strong and halted Wilfredo in the eleventh; the efforts to rise are some of the most ballsy you’ll ever see. This warrior spirit was happy to drag his body through a few more ordeals.
It was far from easy, actually it was pretty ugly, but Gomez managed to snatch a third title at 130 lbs after winning a majority decision over Rocky Lockridge. The moment had come to get his fill of limelight. What used to be a simple office job had turned into back-breaking labor. Three more fights and it was adios.
Getting into the Hall of Fame was child’s play.
Recently Wilfredo turned fifty seven. The voice that recalls yesteryear is a particularly raspy one; something he attributes to Lockridge having socked him in the throat. Unmistakably plump, the picture is now one of a man who has indulged, a little too much admittedly, falling foul of drugs and cursing empty pockets. Fortunately his darkest hour became known as the past.
Earlier this year Gomez suffered respiratory arrest. That he refused to succumb isn’t surprising though it may be timely for Puerto Rico’s most explosive fighter to meditate on some of his more sober philosophy; an adage to get everyone thinking.
‘In this world we are only visitors.’
I’m inclined to agree with the one they called Bazooka.
Most who fell under his aim didn’t last. Boxing.com online article 3 November 2013 Ted Spoon
34) Salvador Sanchez Lost TKO8: US Fight Commentary TV -
v Salvador Sanchez 21 August 1981 WBC Featherweight Nevada [r1] … Gomez boxing … [knockdown] … he’s back on his feet … a surprise left hook … Gomez is in trouble … Sanchez is teeing off … [r2] … Gomez is reaching way back … starting to come back … right hand shook him up again … [r3] … Gomez continues to come on … got his share of punches in … Close bout … They never stopped swinging … [r4] … Gomez: a lot of ability, a lot of determination … Right hand [Sanchez] … a very good boxer … Good right hand by Gomez; good right hand by Sanchez … [r5] … They trade punches … That right eye of Wilfredo Gomez … Good right hand by Sanchez … Gomez is in trouble here … [r6] … Both [Gomez’] eyes starting to pump up … Here they go … a war … He [Gomez] keeps coming … [r7] … Sanchez’ work downstairs … Gomez’ legs are still rubbery … Good punches [Gomez] … another right hand … [r8] … Gomez has to go for broke … Gomez is hurt … he’s down … That’s it. (Boxers: Sanchez & Boxers: Gomez] US fight commentary
37) Juan Meza TKO6: US Fight Commentary TV -
v Juan Meza 27 March 1982 WBC Super-Bantamweight Atlantic City [r1] … Left hand of Gomez … no trouble making the weight … [r2] … [Meza] takes a wicked combination … hard right hand by Gomez … another … left hook … [r3] … Hard right … stepping up the pace … [r4] … Loading up the left … working on the body … [r5] … Right at his man … back to the body … across with the right … left hook … another right hand … chopping him up … a wicked left hook … back to the body … hard right and he almost went down … [r6] … Considerable punishment … hard left hook … combinations to the head … [Referee] stops the fight … US fight commentary
40) Lupe Pintor TKO14: US Fight Commentary TV -
v Lupe Pintor 3 December 1982 WBC Super-Bantamweight New Orleans [r1] … Left hand work to the body constantly [Gomez] … good right hand … again … again … [r2] … Stronger than Pintor … right hand … four straight unanswered punches … pace picking up … overhand right … Pintor a bit of a late rally … [r3] … Left hook [Gomez] … right hand once more … good right hand … another … scoring almost at will … Pintor got the better of that exchange … left hand … Left hand by Gomez … A great fight … A lot punches landed for both men … [r4] … [Gomez] keeps his cool … Good right hand [Pintor] … [r5] … Right hand by Gomez … Pintor fighting a very tactical and intelligent fight … Left hand by Gomez … right hand … another … another … [r6] … Pintor has Gomez against the ropes … Gomez with a left hand … Good [Pintor] left hand … Point away from Wilfredo Gomez [elbow] … [r7] … Good fight … Pintor very patient … Right hand by Gomez … some big shots to the head … and a left hand … [r8] … Right hand [Gomez] … Two good shots by Pintor … Right hand by Gomez … left hand … and a right hand at the bell … [r9] … Right hand lead by Pintor … left hand … and another downstairs … Gomez with a combination … Gomez giving it his best shot … [r10] … Gomez’s left eye is really bruised badly … combination … countering very well … Gomez has pressed the action … [r11] … Combination by Pintor … Good left hand by Gomez … Gomez has thrown far more punches … right and another left … [r12] … Gomez once more pressing … Pintor is hurt … hurt and in trouble … Pintor cannot get off the ropes … takes a right … and now it’s Pintor fighting back … [Gomez] a combination of his own … [r13] … Pintor a combination … The crowd has been screaming constantly … [r14] … And down goes Lupe Pintor … another left hand and down he goes … That is all. US fight commentary