When you think of the fighters who appeared on the first season of The Contender, the boxing reality show that aired on national television in 2005, certain names generally get mentioned. There’s Sergio “The Latin Snake” Mora, who ultimately emerged as the show’s champion. There’s the popular Peter Manfredo, who finished the season in second place. Then there’s Jesse Brinkley and Ishe Smith, who is a regular contributor toBoxingtalk. One name that somehow seems to accidentally lose itself is that of Alfonso Gomez. Despite finishing the season in third place, despite beating both Brinkley and the much bigger Manfredo and despite having quite a crowd-pleasing style, his name sometimes gets overlooked.
While he may be overlooked in comparison to his Contender counterparts, he is certainly no less of a fighter. That’s why the braintrust of Arturo Gatti wished to match their fighter with Gomez for Gatti’s comeback fight after a year layoff. Gomez, who is bigger than Gatti, presents a sizeable challenge. Plus he happens to have a solid ledger and a name with some credibility.
Still, for some time, it was unclear whether Gomez would ultimately be penciled in as Gatti’s opponent for an HBO date on July 14. It’s widely believed that HBO executives, like many writers and fans, have been doubtful of just how good the fighters on The Contender are.
It didn’t help that several of the show’s more popular fighters have come across as, well, unspectacular. Back in February, Ishe Smith fought a ten-round snoozer with Sechew Powell—and lost on the scorecards by a wide margin.
In April, Peter Manfredo lost to super middleweight champion Joe Calzaghe in Wales by stoppage. In the third round, referee Terry O’Connor prematurely halted the bout because Manfredo stopped throwing punches once Calzaghe cornered him on the ropes. Though Manfredo was never hurt, he was clearly not as sharp as Calzaghe.
Around the same time, Sergio Mora turned down an opportunity to face middleweight champ Jermain Taylor on HBO, claiming a fight in Memphis was too close to Taylor’s hometown of Little Rock, Arkansas.
That’s why Gomez hopes to show the sport of boxing that being a part of the Contender is more than being a contestant on a reality show. “Every boxer wants to have exposure. With the Contender, I had that exposure,” says Gomez. “This is a great opportunity to show that the Contender fighters are real fighters, that The Contender promotion is a real promotion.”
Whereas Sergio Mora turned down a title shot near Taylor’s hometown, Gomez is going to the very heart of Arturo Gatti’s fan base for his HBO debut: Atlantic City. That has to tell you something about Gomez’s demeanor. Gomez though, will be the first to tell you there’s nothing extraordinary about his decision to fight in Atlantic City. To him, it’s just the necessary first step in order to advance his career.
“I’m 26 years old. I’ve been in boxing seventeen years,” Gomes says. “For me it’s time to shine.”
However, Gomez is conscious the chips will be stacked against him when he steps inside the ring at the Boardwalk Hall on the night of the fight. For one, he’ll have to contend with a noisy crowd that’ll be eagerly supporting Gatti, their hometown hero. In the past, a deafening, sellout arena has overwhelmed some boxers. That though, he claims, doesn’t really worry him.
“I’ve seen the lights—that’s a good thing for me,” says Gomez. “I’ve heard the people cheer for me and against me. I’ve been in fights where I’ve been the favorite or where I’ve been the opponent, so I’m experienced in that matter.”
While the crowd might not get to him, Gomez is wary of any kind of unfair shake he might receive for the mere fact he is on Gatti’s turf. Like on the Cotto-Judah undercard at Madison Square Garden, where three inexperienced judges awarded Yuri Foreman of Brooklyn a bogus decision over Anthony Thompson, though he clearly lost the fight.
“I have to go the extra mile if I’m fighting in his backyard. We’re very susceptible to the unfavoritism,” Gomez says. “I’m training hard to make sure I win every round convincingly. I think if I win every round convincingly, it’s going to be hard for someone to take away the fight from me. And if it does, that calls for a rematch, which I wouldn’t mind doing again.”
So how is Gomez going to go about doing that? It doesn’t matter. If he needs to box, he will. If he needs to pressure Gatti, he’ll do just that. If he needs to brawl, well, you know what he’ll be trying to do.
“My legs are going to be there to counter-punch him if I have to or pressure him if I have to fight him [like that]. If it comes down to going toe-to-toe like he did with Mickey Ward, I have no problem doing it. I’ve done it 100 times and if it happens this time, I’m going to do it,” Gomez says. “All I can say is that I’m certain that I’m going to win this fight.”
With Gomez being bigger than Gatti, many wonder if his plan all along is to entice Gatti into an all-out clash. While Gatti has repeatedly said he intends to box Gomez, Gomez believes at some point in the fight, Gatti will look to trade blows.
“Whether he’s been training with Buddy McGirt or Mickey Ward, he’s the type of fighter who at the end of the day is going to stand there and want to go to war because that’s what his heart tells him to do and you can’t go against what your heart tells you to do,” Gomez says. “When I’ve seen him fight against bigger guys, he has crumbled. He’s very strong at 140 pounds but at welterweight I’m going to be the bigger man.”
Since his days on the Contender, Gomez says he’s been taking heavy shots just fine. That’s why he believes he is well-suited to take the hardest of Gatti’s punches should the two engage in a slugfest.
“Peter Manfredo, he’s hit me the hardest maybe because he was already meant to go up to super middleweight and I was still at welterweight. He busted up my face but he didn’t take me down,” says Gomez. “Gatti hits hard but I don’t think he hits as hard as a super middleweight.”
Should Gomez defeat Gatti, he’d be scratching Top Rank’s plans to pair Gatti with developing prospect Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. sometime this fall. Gatti has made it known he’s not looking that far down the road yet. As for Gomez, he says all the talk of the young Chavez Jr. surrounding his upcoming bout with Gatti doesn’t bug him.
“It’s not at all insulting but motivating,” Gomez says. “When I saw that Gatti was scheduled to fight Chavez Jr., it didn’t make me mad. It just motivated me to prove that I should be the one fighting Chavez Jr. It motivates me to run faster, to do more rounds on the bags and sparring.”
Gomez is also motivated to show hardcore fight fans they can come to love him the way they love Gatti. And for more reasons than just his warrior mentality and bruising fighting style, which would make Tony Zale proud.
“I never give up, whether I’m tired, whether I’m weak. I always keep going and keep going. I throw punches even if I’m going down,” says Gomez. “Gatti is an exceptional fighter. I’ve admired him ever since I’ve been watching his fights back in the 90s. He’s going to pass the torch to me—to another warrior. After I beat him, [if] I’m able to carry the Atlantic City crowd the way he did, it would be amazing.”
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