ALFONSO GOMEZ

updated April 13, 2008

A native of Guadalajara, Mexico, Alfonso S. Gomez began to box at ten-years-old as an affordable means of self-defense. "When we moved to Oakland, California," says Gomez, "kids would bully me because of my lack of English. So, since Karate was expensive, I took up boxing." During his career as an amateur, Gomez won the Blue and Gold Tournament and traveled back to Mexico where he held a national title. He went professional in 2001.

As one of the smallest boxers on "The Contender", Gomez a heavy underdog, gained notoriety for handing Peter Manfredo Jr. his first loss as a professional, and in turn, set the tone for the hard-fought battles that would ensure for the remainder of the series.

Gomez continued to beat the odds by scoring wins over fellow Contender’s Ahmed Kaddour and Jesse Brinkley before heading back to the welterweight division. Following The Contender series in his first fight back at welterweight, Gomez looked impressive stopping Luciano Perez in the fourth round.

On May 4th Alfonso Gomez took on long time rival Jesse Feliciano for the third time in an eight round battle to the end. Despite his efforts, the fight ended in a draw.

Gomez jumped right back in the ring on August 25th against Carson Jones at the ARCO arena dazzling the crowd with his skills. Gomez knocked Jones out in the 8th round.

Gomez was one of the season 1 boxers chosen to be a member of the USA team in the first annual Sugar Ray Leonard Cup. He was matched against Martin Concepcion "the Immaculate Concepcion" in the Contender Challenge: UK vs. USA on March 30th in Newcastle. Alfonso wasn’t bothered by the bigger heavy handed Concepcion and the crowd soon realized that as Gomez knocked him to the canvas in the 3rd round. Gomez went on to stop Concepcion in the 7th round helping to bring home the Sugar Ray Leonard Cup to the USA while improving his record to 16-3-2 (7).