| |
|
|
Former Light Heavyweight
Champion
Julio Gonzalez Passes
|
By William Trillo
It is with a heavy
heart that we report the sad news that our good
friend Julio César González was killed in an
auto accident in Mexico over this past weekend.
Apparently Gonzalez, who had retired from boxing
and was working his vegetable ranch in Mexico
was heading home on his dirt bike along with a
worker when he was hit head on by driver who may
have been intoxicated. Julio leaves behind his
wife and two sons.
Julio's record reads like a who's who of recent
Light Heavyweight boxing as he fought all the
top Light Heavyweight's from his era (Julio
Gonzalez On boxrec.com). From Roy Jones to
Zsolt Erdei, Julio was always ready to face the
best and he never backed down from a challenge.
After defeating Glen Johnson in 2003 Gonzalez
went on to become the first and only Mexican
Light heavyweight World Champion when he
traveled to Germany to dethrone the then
undefeated WBO Champion Dariusz Michalczewski.
|
|
|
Gonzalez was also a
member of the 1996 Mexican Olympic team, boxing as a
light heavyweight. He was eliminated in the 1st round by
eventual gold medalist and future world champion Vasili
Jirov of Kazakhstan.
Gonzalez will always be remembered for his fight with
Julian Letterlough. It's a fight you can say was a
microcosm of his career. Gonzalez was dropped 3 times
with huge punches by Letterlough but refused to give up
and not only got up to drop Letterlough twice but went
on to win a unanimous decision. Coincidentally we spoke
with Julio after the untimely passing of Letterlough:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=he__rRSmoXc
For those of us who knew Julio that is how we will
always remember him, as a man who would take any
challenge and if staggered or dropped Julio would get
back up and keep on competing no matter how difficult or
impossible the task seemed.
Our sincere thoughts and prayers to Julio's entire
family.
|
|
