Julio Cesar Gonazlez entered the professional boxing ranks in 1997 after a moderately successful amateur career and gradually worked his way through the ranks of the light-heavyweight journeymen. He had won his first 21 fights by the time he got his first chance at a boxing title, the WBC Fecarbox regional belt, on May 5, 2000. He defeated unbeaten fellow Mexican Jesus Ruiz on a ninth round technical knockout in Commerce City, California.
Gonzalez followed that victory up with five more wins, including a 12-round unanimous decision over Julian Letterlough on February 2, 2001, that won him two more regional titles--the WBO NABO and the IBA Continental--and propelled him into the No. 1 contender's position in several sanctioning bodies' ratings.
As the top contender, he earned a fight with Roy Jones Jr., the world light heavyweight champion of seven different sanctioning bodies, on July 28, 2001, in Los Angeles. Gonzalez went the distance with Jones, but lost a unanimous decision for his first career setback.
He took seven months off after the loss to Jones before resuming his career and running off seven straight wins without a loss. Most notable in his comeback streak was a 10-round majority decision over former world champion Glencoffe Johnson on January 24, 2003.
Gonzalez earned his second shot at a world title on October 18, 2003, when he flew to Hamburg, Germany for a showdown with undefeated Dariusz Michalczewski for the WBO world light-heavyweight championship. Going into the fight, Michalczewski was positioned to tie Rocky Marciano's all-time record of 49 wins and no losses. He also was looking to extend his own world record of 23 straight successful defenses of the light heavyweight title.
In the fight, Gonzalez seemed to take control of the action in the middle rounds, and fought back strongly when Michalczewski, a knockout artist, got him in trouble a few times. When the fight was over, Gonzalez got the verdict on a 12-round split decision; the judge from Germany was the lone dissenter.
Gonzalez lost his title to Zsolt Erdei on January 17, 2004, by unanimous decision.
He unsuccessfully challenged Clinton Woods for the IBF light heavyweight title on September 9, 2005, losing by unanimous decision. He met Woods again in a title fight rematch on September 29, 2007. Woods again won the fight by unanimous decision. |
