BOOK REVIEW: Legendary British fight figure Mickey Duff called him: “The most outstanding boxer from this county never to have fought for the world title.” Former flyweight champion Charlie Magri said of him: “He was fantastic. He should have earned a fortune.” Terry Lawless, London manager of world champions John H. Stracey, Maurice Hope and Magri, reflected: “He’s probably the most gifted boxer I have ever managed, different to everyone else. I’ve never seen people do things like him.”
Born in England in 1942. Life as a boxing writer began with a weekly column in a newspaper called the South London Advertiser in the early 1960s. Moved to the far bigger-circulation South London Press, writing a twice-weekly boxing section, in 1966. Joined the weekly Boxing News in 1970 and became editor in 1972. Moved across the pond in 1977 for marriage-related reasons and covered the American scene for Boxing News until joining Boxing Monthly in 1990.
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GOMEZ hammers Buendia. / Photo: CHRIS FARINA, Top Rank
Friday, May 1 was a night of welterweight thrillers. On ShoBox, Carlos Abregu survived two knockdowns to batter Irving Garcia to defeat in four topsy-turvy rounds, while Azteca America featured the bloody battle in Las Vegas that saw Alfonso Gomez survive some tough moments to drop Juan Buendia for the full count with a left hook to the body in the eighth round.
This fight could have been a 1950s clash in Los Angeles or Mexico City, with two proud, brave Mexican-born fighters going head to head and toe to toe, both cut and blood-spattered. I was lucky enough to have seen it from ringside the night before the Pacquiao-Hatton mega fight.
Although Urbano Antillon’s impressive and merciless breaking down of Tyrone Harris was the main event, Gomez and Buendia stole the show for sheer, non-stop action.
Each man gave and took hard shots. Gomez showed the superior boxing skills but he was having to dig deep in every round.
Buendia pressed forward, landing some heavy right hands and left hooks. I thought that Gomez looked a bit too easy to hit — perhaps his year’s layoff had something to do with it — but he showed a sound chin, and his jabbing and combinations seemed to be taking most of the rounds, although one judge surprisingly had Buendia ahead.
Gomez had been bouncing punches off of Buendia’s chin, but, wiping away the blood that dripped from the gash over his right eye, the Contender Season One favourite switched to the body in the eighth with a right hand followed by the perfectly placed left hook that ended the fight.
All the resistance seemed to drain from Buendia as he dropped to his knees.
It was one of the most vivid body-shot finishes I have seen in a long time, and the blood-and-guts win showed that Gomez’s fighting spirit has not been crushed by the pasting he took from Miguel Cotto. While Gomez isn’t in the elite, Cotto league, he can be involved in entertaining fights on the next level down. Buendia, also returning after a layoff, threw everything he had at him, but Gomez came through the ordeal and surely put himself right back in business as a mid-level type of attraction.
