01.08 - Berlin – Many visitors of the Universum event at Estrel Convention Center will be looking forward to watching a certain pugilistic fighter on August 17: Juan Carlos Gomez, one of the most entertaining fighters in boxing. To the rhythms of Gloria Estefan’s “Conga” the undefeated Cuban athlete will dance his way to the ring for his 36th professional contest.
He currently weighs a well in shape 214 lb.: 24 pounds more than he weighed when he was still cruiserweight world champion. The Cuban left this weightclass a while ago when he decided to campaign at heavyweight exclusively.
During his body building training Gomez briefly weighed over 220 lb. Meanwhile, due to additional fitness and boxing training his weight stabilized a couple of pounds below it.
“I regained my old speed even though I gained a lot of weight”, Gomez proudly said. In the Universum gym he’s doing sparring against 6 foot 7 giants, among others the tall French up and comer Cyril Seur, 6-0 (5), as well as against a stable mate, Russian prospect Alexander Dimitrenko.
Not only during those sparring fights Gomez is always the boss inside the ring. Problems due to reach disadvantages are unknown to the 6 foot 4 Gomez, a highly skillful boxer with long arms and a great arsenal of punches.
“I feel ready to take on any heavyweight in the world. I want to take on the tough guys now. Anybody who wants to become world champion must be willing to take on any strong and awkward opponent.”
After Dr. Vitali Klitschko had to pull out of the event on July 20 in Dortmund due to a training injury Gomez immediately signaled he was ready to step in. The Cuban was eager to fight Klitschko’s scheduled opponent Larry Donald. The fact that Gomez was basically scheduled to fight four weeks later which meant that he had just began training didn’t bother him. The same day when he heard about his chance to step in as Klitschko’s replacement he changed his training plans and began sparring on short terms.
Unfortunately the attitude of the American was much less flexible. Donald refused to fight against southpaw Gomez even though the management of Universum Box-Promotion offered him a higher purse than against Klitschko. This was much less understandable in regards of the fact that Donald would have enjoyed a decisive training advantage.
Now Gomez who just turned 29 last Friday will step into the ring as scheduled on August 17 in Berlin.
In his last fight on March 16 Gomez knocked out American Ken Murphy in round 5. It was his fifth fight as a heavyweight.
Gomez has been the WBC cruiserweight world champion from 1998 to 2002 and defended that title 10 times successfully. In February he laid down the title with the intention to continue his career as a heavyweight.
The Cuban is 35-0 with 30 knockouts. He is currently ranked #9 by the WBC and #10 by the WBO.
Gomez who married his girl friend Asucena one year ago has the reputation as being one of the most naturally gifted boxers in the world.
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