Michael Gomez

Michael Gomez (born Michael Armstrong; 21 June 1977) is a former professional boxer who competed from 1995 to 2009. He was born to an Irish Traveller family in Longford, Ireland, spending his early years in Dublin before moving to London and later Manchester, England, with his family at the age of nine. In boxing he was affectionately known as "The Predator", "The Irish Mexican" and "The Mancunian Mexican".

Despite finishing his career fighting in the lightweight division, Gomez is more notable for his fights at featherweight and super-featherweight. During his career he amassed a number of regional championships, most significantly the British super-featherweight title twice, from 1999 to 2004. He also held the WBU super featherweight title from 2004 to 2005.

Gomez, who has been compared to Johnny Tapia, has lived a turbulent life and was often involved in controversial fights. In Gomez's initial matches he suffered a number of losses to journeyman opposition but then went on a run of victories which stretched for almost four years. Gomez appeared to be "back on track" He returned to the ring after a 15-month interval. On 21 June 2008, Gomez lost what was seen as possibly his last bout: a last chance saloon opportunity to resurrect his career against rising star and Olympic silver medallist Amir Khan. Although scoring a surprise knockdown against Khan early on, the fight ended with Gomez being stopped in five rounds.

Gomez took the surname Gomez after his childhood hero Wilfredo Gómez.

Following the family's move to England, Armstrong's father's eyesight failed further due to retinitis pigmentosa. By that time, there were ten children in the Armstrong family. After his younger sister, Louise, died from sudden infant death syndrome, his mother left the family to live with another woman.

Professional career Early years Armstrong boxed as an amateur before turning professional in June 1995. He chose the professional surname "Gomez" when the British Boxing Board of Control (BBBoC) required him to select another name at the time of his registration as a professional; there was another boxer in the same weight division using the name "Michael Armstrong". He chose his ring name in honour of Puerto Rican boxer Wilfredo Gómez, whose videotaped fights Armstrong had studied intently as a youth. earned him the nickname of "the Irish Mexican". He developed a ring persona based on this nickname, which has remained popular with fans throughout his career. His ring entrance music is that of a Mexican Mariachi band, a reference to his Hispanic-sounding chosen name, and many of his supporters wear sombreros to his fights and wave Irish flags. Gomez also wears long Mexican-style boxing shorts in the colours of the flag of Ireland and often has the shape of a shamrock shaved into the hair on the back of his head.

In his debut fight at the G-Mex Leisure Centre, Manchester, England, Gomez beat previously undefeated Danny Ruegg on the undercard of a bill that included Robin Reid and Michael Brodie. Despite this initial win, Gomez's early career was littered with losses to journeyman fighters such as Greg Upton and Chris Williams. Training on bodywork with Bobby RimmerIn 1996, Gomez was charged with murder after a gang fight outside a nightclub in Manchester. Gomez had hit one of his attackers, Sam Parle, who died after his head hit the pavement as a result of the blow. The charge was later reduced to manslaughter and Gomez was cleared after it was ruled that he had acted in self-defence. Gomez defeated Thornhill with a second-round knockout. He continued his winning form into 2000 with another run of six wins, and successfully defended his British super featherweight title against Dean Pithie, Carl Greaves and Ian McLeod.

Gomez sought a rematch against Bognar, and five months later in July 2001 the pair met again, this time in Manchester, resulting in a victory for Gomez. The fight started badly for Gomez when he suffered a flash knockdown in the first round and was down again in the second. Gomez came back to knock Bognar down near the end of the second round. Gomez came out firing at the start of the third round and finished the fight with a fourth and final knockdown to avenge his earlier defeat.

The defeat to Lear, and the manner in which the fight ended, prompted Hughes, Gomez's longtime mentor and trainer, to ask Gomez to retire from boxing. This event signalled the end of the relationship between Gomez and Hughes; soon after, Gomez crossed Manchester to join Ricky Hatton and former Collyhurst gym stablemate Anthony Farnell at the rival Phoenix Gym run by Billy Graham. Gomez followed the defeat to Lear with a string of three wins, all by knockout.

Prior to the fight, Arthur had opined during interviews that "looking deep into Gomez's eyes at the press conference, I'm not sure even he believes he can win. He'll be so fired up I expect it'll take me eight or nine rounds but, if his resistance has gone as people are saying, it could be a lot sooner."

Arthur, who was looking to retain the BBBofC Lonsdale Belt, was seen as a rising star in British boxing. He was a strong favourite to win the bout against Gomez, who was perceived to have been through too many battles and abused his body too much, and the fight was seen as a stepping stone on Arthur's way to a future world championship.

Gomez proved his critics wrong when he arrived at the fight in prime condition and with aggression, determination and desire.

Gomez knocked down his opponent twice before delivering a jarring left hook to Arthur, knocking Arthur to the canvas for the third time. Referee John Coyle stopped the fight, and Gomez won with the resulting TKO in the fifth round. Retired Scottish boxer Ken Buchanan said it was one of the best fights he had ever seen. Arthur responded by saying "the fight (with Gomez) is definitely going to happen. Hopefully I'll get another warm-up fight in June and then take on Gomez in September."

The pair clashed at the weigh in, and this antagonism carried into the ring; from the outset of the fight Gomez tried to draw Alvarez into a brawl. Gomez appeared to win the first two rounds behind stinging jabs, but Alvarez seemed unruffled. In the third round, Alvarez started to take control of the fight and landed several blows to Gomez's face. Gomez began quickly in the fourth round, attacking Alvarez from behind his jab and working his way through his opponent's defense.

Leading up to the fight McDonagh was making visits to see paranormalist Uri Geller as "mind coach" to help him prepare mentally for the fight, and Geller also travelled with him to Dublin for the fight. Gomez commented that "I'm not sure Uri Geller will be of much use to him though because there won't be any spoons in that ring for him to bend. The only thing I plan on bending is some of McDonagh's ribs with my body punches."

The first four rounds were relatively close, with Gomez leading according to pundits, but the fight ended in the fifth round under bizarre circumstances when for no apparent reason Gomez stopped fighting and failed to defend himself. He then received a number of unanswered punches from McDonagh before being floored. Gomez rose from the canvas immediately but appeared to ignore the referee and walk towards his corner while the referee continued with his count. Gomez then left the ring as the referee was waving the fight off. RTÉ commentator Steve Collins said "I smell a rat, something's not right here."

The Boxing Union of Ireland (BUI) initially suspended both fighters' purses, and investigated reports of unusual betting patterns, with large sums of money being placed on McDonagh to win inside the distance and more specifically in the fifth round. Odds on McDonagh to win the fight in the fifth round had been cut from 125–1 to 18–1 by the afternoon of the bout. The BUI did express disappointment that the bookmaker, Boylesports, who had suspended wagering on the bout due to the unusual betting patterns, had chosen not to reply to the investigators' queries. Gomez further indicated that he planned to pursue a career in bodybuilding. McDonagh, meanwhile, claimed that he had won because of Gellar's assistance leading up to the bout. Finally, their rematch for the Irish lightweight title, to be billed as "Redemption", was set for 23 May 2008, but McDonagh pulled out of the scheduled bout.

Return to the ring

In May 2007, fifteen months after his fight with McDonagh, Gomez returned to the ring to face Daniel Thorpe at the Altrincham Leisure Centre, Manchester.

Gomez had left the Phoenix Gym and was now training at Bobby Rimmers' Boxing Academy in Stalybridge, Manchester, and had returned to fight in the super featherweight division. The fight was billed as "The Last Stand", and the venue was sold out with fellow fighters Ricky Hatton and his brother Matthew Hatton cheering him on from ringside. Gomez won the fight with a stoppage in the third round. The following month Gomez also beat Youssef Al Hamidi, again with a third round stoppage.

He then signed up to face Leeds's Johanneson on 19 October 2007 at the Doncaster Dome, Doncaster, England for the British super featherweight title. Before the fight, Gomez was confident, stating "You can't outbox me. I'll jab your head off. If he comes to have a fight with me it is going to be early Christmas for everyone because I don't know who's going to go but someone's going to go and it's not going to be me." At the pre-fight press conference in Doncaster both fighters squared up to each other and promised to knock each other out; during the highly charged face off both fighters had to be kept apart by their promoter and trainers.

As many expected, the highly anticipated domestic clash was a savage brawl from round one. Gomez won the opening rounds and threatened to overpower Johanneson from the opening seconds. The Leeds fighter then gained the upper hand as the fight went on, flooring Gomez in the sixth round only for the "Irish Mexican" to rise from the canvas. Soon after, with Gomez appearing unsteady on his feet, referee Mickey Vann stopped the fight. Gomez said that Vann had stopped the fight early, adding, "When the stoppage came, I wasn't wobbling or staggering, and I only dropped my hands in the fight to show Johanneson that he couldn't hurt me. But the referee simply got the wrong message. It was bad refereeing. I told him straight away I was fine, but he insisted on showing me to my corner." The former champion was clear that he wanted another opportunity to fight for the British title.

Amir Khan fight Gomez fought Amir Khan for the Commonwealth lightweight title at the National Indoor Arena, Birmingham, on 21 June 2008, Gomez's thirty-first birthday. Khan said that "there is no way he will be as fit as me, so I expect a spectacular stoppage". Gomez did not attend the scheduled pre-fight press conference, prompting Khan to deride him, and promoter Frank Warren accused Gomez of failing to show respect to Khan and the media.

During the fight Khan knocked Gomez to the canvas in the first round with a barrage of hooks and uppercuts. In the second round, Gomez caught Khan with a left hook, knocking down the younger fighter and exposing his defensive weakness; however, Khan steadied himself after the mandatory eight-count, and cut Gomez above the left eye before the round ended. Gomez caught Khan in the ribs with a left hook in the fourth round which left Khan unstable for a moment, but Khan responded with a flurry of hooks and jabs. Khan landed a "cracking left hook" in the fifth, After the fight, Khan said he felt he had moved up a level by "fighting world class fighters like Gomez."

Before the fight, sports writers considered Gomez a tough opponent for Khan, with his "knockout punch" and his success against Alex Arthur in similar circumstances, Gomez saw the fight as an opportunity to reignite his career; in an interview shortly before the fight he spoke of how " his fight really is my last chance to set myself up for life and become known in every household in Britain". At the same time, he reflected on the positive effects of his career in the ring, saying "Boxing kept my feet on the ground and gave me a focus. It's got me through the bad times and calmed me down. If it wasn't for boxing, I wouldn't have my beautiful wife and family". Gomez lives with his wife Alison and their three children in Manchester.

Professional boxing record