Wilfredo Gómez: The San Juan Bazooka Who Ran Off 17 Straight Knockout Title Defenses

Wilfredo Gómez grew up poor in a San Juan neighborhood, won the world amateur title in Havana at 17 and then turned the WBC super bantamweight championship into a long string of knockouts: 17 defenses, every one ended early. He was beaten by Salvador Sánchez, beaten by Azumah Nelson, and still finished with world titles in three weight classes. This is his career, taken from the record.

Las Monjas, a Bicycle and the Amateur Ring

Gómez was born on October 29, 1956, in Las Monjas, a poor neighborhood of Hato Rey in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Accounts of his childhood describe a boy who rode a bicycle everywhere and sold candy to earn a little money. Boxing gave him a way forward, and he took to it early.

He was only 15 when Puerto Rico sent him to the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, where an Egyptian opponent eliminated him in his first bout. Two years later he was a different fighter. In 1974 he won bantamweight gold at the World Amateur Boxing Championships in Havana, and the same year he took the 54-kilogram gold at the Central American and Caribbean Games in Santo Domingo. His amateur record is usually given as 96 wins and 3 losses.

A Draw in Panama, Then Nothing but Knockouts

Gómez's professional career started badly. On November 16, 1974, in Panama City, his debut against Jacinto Fuentes ended in a draw. That is the only blemish on the early part of his record. Every man he beat after that night failed to hear the final bell, and the run reached 32 consecutive knockouts. Wikipedia's record lists place it third all time, behind LaMar Clark's 44 and Billy Fox's 43.

People started calling him "Bazooka." The sources consulted for this piece do not say who came up with the name, but his record explains it well enough.

Getting Up Against Yum Dong-kyun, 1977

He got his first title shot at home. On May 21, 1977, at the Roberto Clemente Coliseum in San Juan, Gómez fought South Korea's Yum Dong-kyun for the WBC super bantamweight (122-pound) championship. Yum put him down about 30 seconds into the first round. Gómez got up, took over the fight and knocked Yum out in the 12th round. He was 20 years old and a world champion.

Seventeen Defenses, Seventeen Stoppages

He held the belt for six years. Gómez fought wherever the money and the challengers were. In Tokyo on January 19, 1978, he stopped Royal Kobayashi in three rounds. In San Juan that September he needed 13 rounds to get rid of Leo Cruz. Derrik Holmes lasted five rounds in Las Vegas in August 1980, and Juan Meza was stopped in six in Atlantic City in March 1982.

The hardest defense came in New Orleans on December 3, 1982, against Mexico's Lupe Pintor, the reigning WBC bantamweight champion. Pintor took him deep, and Gómez stopped him in the 14th round. By the time he gave up the title in May 1983 he had defended it 17 times and won all 17 inside the distance. No super bantamweight has gone past that record.

Zárate at the Roberto Clemente Coliseum, 1978

The defense people remember best was his sixth. On October 28, 1978, Carlos Zárate, the Mexican who held the WBC bantamweight title, moved up to challenge Gómez at the Roberto Clemente Coliseum. Neither man had lost as a professional. Gómez came in at 21-0-1 with 21 knockouts. Sources disagree on Zárate's exact record: Wikipedia lists him at 52-0 with 51 knockouts, while Boxing News says he had knocked out 54 of his 55 opponents.

Making weight was hard for both of them. Each man was over the limit at the first attempt. Gómez made it on his second try, and Zárate, who reportedly had been ill, needed four. Once the fight started, the Puerto Rican controlled it. He dropped Zárate in the fourth round and again just as the round ended, and Wikipedia notes that only two of those knockdowns were counted officially. Gómez put him down once more early in the fifth, and the fight was stopped 44 seconds into the round when Zárate's corner threw in the towel. The win made Gómez the man many writers ranked best in the sport pound for pound, and it added a well-known chapter to the Puerto Rico-Mexico boxing rivalry. In later years the two men became friends.

Caesars Palace, 1981: The Night Sánchez Said No

Gómez then tried to win a second division. On August 21, 1981, at Caesars Palace in Nevada, he moved up to featherweight and challenged Mexico's WBC champion, Salvador Sánchez. The fight was billed as "The Battle of the Little Giants." Gómez came in 32-0-1 with 32 knockouts. Sánchez was 40-1-1.

It went wrong for Gómez almost at once. Sánchez dropped him about 40 seconds into the first round. One account says the punch fractured Gómez's cheekbone. By the third round his right eye was swelling, and by the seventh it was almost shut. Gómez kept coming forward, but Sánchez found him with counters every time. In the eighth round a series of right hands sent the challenger reeling, and referee Carlos Padilla Jr. stopped the fight. It was Gómez's first professional defeat.

The Fight City reports that Gómez later admitted he had underestimated Sánchez and wanted a rematch. That fight never happened. Sánchez was killed in a car crash on August 12, 1982. In the years after, Gómez honored him with flowers and became a guest of honor at the yearly memorial events in Sánchez's hometown.

Featherweight and Super Featherweight: Laporte, Nelson, Lockridge

After giving up the 122-pound belt, Gómez went after the featherweight title again. On March 31, 1984, at the Roberto Clemente Coliseum, he won a 12-round unanimous decision over Juan Laporte and became WBC featherweight champion. That gave him titles in two divisions.

He lost the belt in his first defense. On December 8, 1984, at Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan, Ghana's Azumah Nelson was trailing on all three judges' scorecards going into the late rounds. In the 11th round Nelson rallied and knocked Gómez out. For Gómez it was a second defeat, and again it came at a weight above the one he had ruled.

Five months later he moved up again. On May 19, 1985, at the Roberto Clemente Coliseum, Gómez challenged American Rocky Lockridge for the WBA super featherweight title and won a 15-round majority decision. The Fight City reports that one judge had it even and the other two had Gómez narrowly ahead, while NBC analyst Ferdie Pacheco scored it for Lockridge by six points. Plenty of people thought Lockridge had won. Still, it went into the record book as Gómez's third world title, each won in a different weight class.

Layne, the Last Bouts and the Hall of Fame

He held the title for about a year. On May 24, 1986, in San Juan, Alfredo Layne of Panama stopped Gómez in the ninth round. Layne was a little-known challenger with a modest record, and the loss effectively ended Gómez's time as a top fighter. He won a few minor fights after that. His last bout was on July 19, 1989, in Hallandale Beach, Florida, where he knocked out Mario Salazar in the second round.

His final record was 44 wins, 3 losses and 1 draw, with 42 wins by knockout. All three losses came at weights above the one where he built his name. Zárate was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1994 and Gómez in 1995.

His life after boxing was difficult. Gómez struggled with drug addiction while living in Venezuela and went through rehabilitation in Colombia. He became a born-again Christian in 1998 and later lived in Orlando, Florida. In Puerto Rico, a boxing gym and a sports complex in Guaynabo, the Complejo Deportivo Wilfredo Gómez, are named after him.

Sources

• Wilfredo Gómez, Wikipedia, accessed October 2026
• Wilfredo Gómez vs. Carlos Zárate, Wikipedia, accessed October 2026
• Salvador Sánchez vs. Wilfredo Gómez, Wikipedia, accessed October 2026
• Azumah Nelson, Wikipedia, accessed October 2026
• Rick "Rocky" Lockridge, Wikipedia, accessed October 2026
• On this day: Wilfredo Gomez defeats Carlos Zarate in five rounds, Boxing News, October 28
• Aug. 21, 1981: Sanchez vs Gomez, The Fight City
• May 19, 1985: Gomez vs Lockridge, The Fight City