Jogre Luiz Gonzalez

[Russell]

Don't know how many posters here know it, but this guy had wins over Lennox Lewis AND Riddick Bowe as an amateur.

Shame what he let himself become as a pro.

Anyone have any thoughts on him?

[CANNONBALL]

i followed JLG's career . he could look pretty awesome against the usual suspects and faded contenders. gave renaldo snipes a career ending beating and taunted him all the way,which was really unnessessary as snipes had always been a gutsy guy. suppose a lot of fans were happy to see his humiliation by bowe,there was bad blood between the two of them,possibly from the amatuer days. witherspoon also gave JLG a good hiding,so did big ross puritty,who made him quit. JLG did have a few decent wins,greg page,although past it,was still reasonable performer,and alex stewart,who was pretty much beaten to a pulp in impressive fashion. JLG was mentioned as an opponent for tyson after the stewart win but nothing ever came of it. in the end he was stopped by the ordinary cliff couser,joe mesi and derek bryant. a fine amatuer but ill disciplined and too old to change his many bad habits. plus points- a powerful jab,when he used it,a bolo-like uppercut and a great look,like a huge genie. a dissapointment,but better than audley harrison.

[Hatesrats]

JLG looked pretty good as a semi pro fighting the johnny come latley's, but as soon as he stepped up in comp his limitations were showing BIG. Then came 1995 and the day he got his lesson course in the difference between amature boxing and the pro's oddly enough by Riddick Bowe himself. JLG was never the same again.

[salsanchezfan]

...............The kind of fighter I love to hate.

He acted as if he had some title coming to him simply by way of his amateur pedigree, and took too much pride and was too oafish in behavior over what were little more than glorified sparring sessions (e.g., the Snipes fight). He got what was coming to him when Bowe handed him his head, and later Witherspoon. I enjoyed those fights.

[Rui]

Gonzalez had an arrogance that plagues many amateur standouts. They have the belief that they were so extraordinary as an amateur that they essentially had nothing else to learn about boxing. Gonzalez was quite stubborn when it came to this respect.

[Mendoza]

i followed JLG's career . he could look pretty awesome against the usual suspects and faded contenders. gave renaldo snipes a career ending beating and taunted him all the way,which was really unnessessary as snipes had always been a gutsy guy. suppose a lot of fans were happy to see his humiliation by bowe,there was bad blood between the two of them,possibly from the amatuer days. witherspoon also gave JLG a good hiding,so did big ross puritty,who made him quit. JLG did have a few decent wins,greg page,although past it,was still reasonable performer,and alex stewart,who was pretty much beaten to a pulp in impressive fashion. JLG was mentioned as an opponent for tyson after the stewart win but nothing ever came of it. in the end he was stopped by the ordinary cliff couser,joe mesi and derek bryant. a fine amatuer but ill disciplined and too old to change his many bad habits. plus points- a powerful jab,when he used it,a bolo-like uppercut and a great look,like a huge genie. a dissapointment,but better than audley harrison.

Nice summary.

[kenmore]

I have heard through the rumor mill that Gonzalez was difficult to train as a pro. Supposedly he was arrogant and uncooperative towards his trainers.

According to the rumors, Gonzalez felt that his amateur pedigree gave him everything he needed to know to succeed as a pro. Allegedly he wouldn't listen to his pro trainers.

I don't know if the rumors are true.

[Ted Stickles]

Perfect example of a promising amateur becoming a dissapointing Pro......Gonzalez and Shabalabba one in the same..........................The reason being is an amatuer fight gets stopped a lot quicker and an amateur fighter give up quicker..

[Bigcat]

I still see Gonzales and spoke to him of sorts only a few months ago in Las Vegas, he has lost tonnes of weight and is very skinny now but dresses immaculately.. He was a great BAD man , he was employed by MGM Events manager Dennis Frinfrock as MGM house heavyweight along with an ex convict called Johnathon Banks.. In fact as an amateur he beat Lewis and Bowe in the pan ames in the same weekend. He beat some decent names including Renaldo Snires on the Bowe v Holyfied 2 card.. Nice man but could be very theatrical and once slapped a young Shannon Briggs , knocking Shannon off his feet in the MGM entrance for actually offering Jorge good luck for the Bowe Fight , saying Briggs was getting too fresh... Good memories..

[wally]

the build-up towards the fight against Bowe as hilarious

shame we never got to see a lot of him after that

[bumdujour]

i remember when he turned pro in the early 90´s.

to me, he was the typical (at the time) standout amateur who just flopped as a pro.

i always believed it had to do with the old amateur style, where the fighters were taught to stand up stiff as a board, paw with the left and follow up with the right hand.
ducking under punches was illegal (as it appears to sometimes be in some euro countries today).

these amateurs always had a tendency to keep their chin right up in the air. so all you basically had to was duck under their right hands and come up with the left hook.
eventually, you´d hit paydirt.

jorge luis gonzales was a typical example of that. all these guys knew what to do when an opponent got close was hold on. they didnt have a clue on infighting.

gonzales may have had a better chance had he gone pro earlier. but he basically remained and amateur when he turned pro. and that undid him real quick.

i remember an ambitious clubfighter by the name of josh dempsey who totally dominated gonzales by forcing him to fight in close. he was way ahead on points when he ran into a flush shot in the last round and got stopped.

the reasons i mentioned above for gonzales pro failiurs are the same that lead me to believe that the great theofelio stevenson would not have made it all the way in the pros by the way.

[Vantage_West]

b.d.j

i agree that the old amateur style of keeping behind that jab and then throwing a straight right hand...really over-asperating the 'BOXING' part and not enough inside fighting...i'm not so sure about your reasoning for Stevenson though. for not being a good pro. Stevenson was a stand up boxer but he was known for looking for fights. he had a left uppercut for the inside and wasnt as one dimensional as Gonzalez. thats a reason why he dominated Bobick when less than a year before bobick was able to whip stevenson. he just threw the one-two then launched a left hook on the inside...Bobick could'nt get out of the way of it.

anyways different thread.

[NickHudson]

I remember reading a long article on JLG prior to his fight with Bowe.

The article made a big deal of the fact that Riddick was intimidated by Gonzalez. Part of this presumably came from the amateur beating.

Apparently, there was some chat show where the host told Riddick that JLG would be joining them and Bowe was panicking because he was still scared!

Anyhow, Bowe fixed him up in the ring when they finally met - and as everyone has pointed out there is no comparison between amateur and pro boxing. Bowe was an undeveloped kid when he first fought Gonzalez.

Unlike Gonzalez he learned his trade properly as a young pro.

[amhlilhaus]

i followed JLG's career . he could look pretty awesome against the usual suspects and faded contenders. gave renaldo snipes a career ending beating and taunted him all the way,which was really unnessessary as snipes had always been a gutsy guy. suppose a lot of fans were happy to see his humiliation by bowe,there was bad blood between the two of them,possibly from the amatuer days. witherspoon also gave JLG a good hiding,so did big ross puritty,who made him quit. JLG did have a few decent wins,greg page,although past it,was still reasonable performer,and alex stewart,who was pretty much beaten to a pulp in impressive fashion. JLG was mentioned as an opponent for tyson after the stewart win but nothing ever came of it. in the end he was stopped by the ordinary cliff couser,joe mesi and derek bryant. a fine amatuer but ill disciplined and too old to change his many bad habits. plus points- a powerful jab,when he used it,a bolo-like uppercut and a great look,like a huge genie. a dissapointment,but better than audley harrison.

great post, nice work:good

[mr. magoo]

I never particularly cared for Gonzalez myself, nor was I ever really impressed by him. I remember watching the Holyfield-Bowe rematch of November 1993, and Gonzalez fighting Renaldo Snipes on the undercard. Gonzalez taunted and laughed at Snipes for most of the evening before a 10 round stoppage occurred. From that point, I wanted to see the man lose. Not long after, Riddick Bowe handed him his lunch, and a few years later, I watched Terrible Tim beat the livin' crap out of him. That was basically it for Gonzalez. Apparently Fidel Castro never like Gonzalez because he beat an aging Teofilo Stevenson, but that's just something I either heard or read at some point over the years.

[rekcutnevets]

Gonzalez was a lot of bark and little bite as a pro.

I loved the persona match-up with Gonzalez and Bowe. Gonzalez loved to dress in black, try to look mean, and talk like he was the worst villain the world had ever seen. Riddick Bowe tries to come across as a big teddy bear, doesn't look scary, and jokes around a lot. The difference is that Bowe really has a mean streak. Ask Larry Donald about it. Gonzalez is more of a bully, and is only mean when he thinks it's safe.

[mr. magoo]

Gonzalez was a lot of bark and little bite as a pro.

I loved the persona match-up with Gonzalez and Bowe. Gonzalez loved to dress in black, try to look mean, and talk like he was the worst villain the world had ever seen. Riddick Bowe tries to come across as a big teddy bear, doesn't look scary, and jokes around a lot. The difference is that Bowe really has a mean streak. Ask Larry Donald about it. Gonzalez is more of a bully, and is only mean when he thinks it's safe.

Yeah, Gonzalez never showed us that he could truly compete against a world beater. Even a 40 year old Tim Witherspoon beat him rather easily. By 1993, and after compiling a fair number of pro fights along with his amateur accomplishments, Gonzalez should have been fighting a more formidable opponent than Renaldo Snipes. I was suspicious of his abilities when he couldn't finish Snipes, despite toying with him for so long.

[Karlo]

Well, Gonzalez was a very good amateur with wins over Lewis, Bowe and Stevenson for exemple, but he was also kind of retired when he turned pro in 91. His best years as an amateur was between 83 and 87. In 88/89 Roberto Balado became the number one superheavy in Cuba and Gonzalez "semiretired" after that. I actually think he was rather inactive the last three year as an amateur. So the Gonzalez who went pro was way over the hill as an amateur.

[dabox]

it's interesting what would have happened if he could have turned pro in his prime and really develop as a pro.
he was tall, big hitter and sure he was not great inside but is wladimar k?

but he was older and had a huge ego.

[patscorpio]

does anyone have a clip or pic of that fight with renaldo snipes...was it really that bad a beating?

[patscorpio]

so i finally was able to see his fight with renaldo snipes (i found my dad's copy of bowe-holyfield 2)....man snipes tried his ass off but gonzalez was lighting him up..taunting him saying shit like "come on" while beating on him...the fight should have been stopped in round 8....then gonzalez actually splits his right glove from punching snipes in the face...which there was a delay and eventually delayed the inevitable...i liked how in the 10th snipes went all out to knock dude out but jorge finished him off brutally after that...thanks goodness snipes didnt fight again after that

[MRBILL]

does anyone have a clip or pic of that fight with renaldo snipes...was it really that bad a beating?

That 1993 fight sucked so bad I actually erased over it.... Snipes looked and fought like a stiff who was over the hill, while Gonzalez was like a huge Mummy trying to get at his prey.... The bout sucked..... I was disappointed....:rofl

MR.BILL

P.S.

Snipes was never really a good fighter and Gonzalez never really developed as a pro.....
:deal

[patscorpio]

That 1993 fight sucked so bad I actually erased over it.... Snipes looked and fought like a stiff who was over the hill, while Gonzalez was like a huge Mummy trying to get at his prey.... The bout sucked..... I was disappointed....:rofl

MR.BILL

P.S.

Snipes was never really a good fighter and Gonzalez never really developed as a pro.....
:deal
like i said before i saw the fight this morning..snipes was shot to pieces..had no balance and jorge just looked amateurish but still beat the shit out of snipes without mercy

[dabox]

i remember when he turned pro in the early 90´s.

to me, he was the typical (at the time) standout amateur who just flopped as a pro.

i always believed it had to do with the old amateur style, where the fighters were taught to stand up stiff as a board, paw with the left and follow up with the right hand.
ducking under punches was illegal (as it appears to sometimes be in some euro countries today).

these amateurs always had a tendency to keep their chin right up in the air. so all you basically had to was duck under their right hands and come up with the left hook.
eventually, you´d hit paydirt.

jorge luis gonzales was a typical example of that. all these guys knew what to do when an opponent got close was hold on. they didnt have a clue on infighting.

gonzales may have had a better chance had he gone pro earlier. but he basically remained and amateur when he turned pro. and that undid him real quick.

i remember an ambitious clubfighter by the name of josh dempsey who totally dominated gonzales by forcing him to fight in close. he was way ahead on points when he ran into a flush shot in the last round and got stopped.

the reasons i mentioned above for gonzales pro failiurs are the same that lead me to believe that the great theofelio stevenson would not have made it all the way in the pros by the way.



this is maybe the most ill informed post i have seen lol

a, there is no country in europe or otherwise that says that ducking punches is illegal lol....this is just laughable lol

b, what good amauters keep their chin up, find one coach in any eastern block country or otherwise that teaches to keep your chin up...
keeping your chin down one of the first things a boxer is taught in any country.

c, yes most amauters are not good in fighters and that is something they learn more in the pros, but if you think a top amauter from any country has no clue how to fight inside....that makes as much sense as your chin comment....

d about about the pawing jab and right hand, it is true in some ways but you what you forget that they depend a lot of foot work....cubians, russians etc usually move very well, and the footwork and angles set up a lot of attacks...and when the fight is as short as amauter fights are, it's a lot easier to use footwork then in a long pro fight


ps i have been boxing for over 10 years and i have had coaches from mexico,us,canada, russia and romania...so i think i know a little bit


i do however agree that stevenson would have not have been the top poor, i just don't think he had the right style for it but it is safe to say he would have done better then an aging gonlazez

[Titan1]

I'm surprised that Briggs didn't get up and whup Gonzalez's ass, being from Brooklyn.

[TBooze]

Gonzales had all the tools and the pedigree, but never put it together. The Snipes fight bored me to tears, Gonzales just sucked, I just thought he had, had a bad night and would still give Bowe hell.......:oops:

[MRBILL]

J.L.G. never learned how to put combos' together in a proper manner...... Gonzalez was slow and stiff as a board..... He looked alright when pitted against a low-rate bum for an opponent, but when matched against a real fighter, Gonzalez normally got his ass kicked.... He looked tougher and more scary than he really was....

MR.BILL

[Bad_Intentions]

undisciplined fighter
as a cuban, i never found him to be such a good fighter, never liked him as a fighter.
i saw one of his last fights in versus a month ago, i enjoyed seeing him get his ass kicked.

[Russell]

Anyone ever see the Alex Stewart/Gonzalez match that took place when both men were 34 years old?

Gonzalez actually came in trim and prepared and absolutely destroyed Stewart. Some picture perfect uppercuts that just kept on landing, and it was over in two.