Julio César González

Julio Gonzalez
Statistics
Real name	Julio César González Ibarra
Nickname(s)	Boxer
Rated at	Light heavyweight Cruiserweight
Nationality	Mexican
Born	July 30, 1976 Guerrero Negro, Baja California Sur, Mexico
Died	March 10, 2012 (aged 35) Guerrero Negro, Baja California Sur, Mexico
Stance	Orthodox
Boxing record
Total fights	49
Wins	41
Wins by KO	25
Losses	8
Draws	0
No contests	0

Julio César González Ibarra (July 30, 1976 – March 10, 2012) was a Mexican professional boxer and former Lineal and WBO light heavyweight champion.

Gonzalez was born in Guerrero Negro, Baja California Sur, and claimed that Mexico was his native country although he lived in the United States for several years. He attended Edison High School in Huntington Beach, California for 2 years and graduated in 1994. He also attended Orange Coast College in 1995. Julio has 2 sons, Anthony Gonzalez and Julio Gonzalez Jr (Julio Gonzalez Jr, is also known as ThatOneTomahawk on YouTube).

Amateur career

Gonzalez was a member of the 1996 Mexican Olympic team, boxing as a light heavyweight. He was eliminated in the 1st round by eventual gold medalist Vasili Jirov of Kazakhstan.^[1]

Pro career

He 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 regional WBC Fecarbox belt, on May 5, 2000. He defeated unbeaten fellow Mexican Jesus Ruiz on a ninth round technical knockout in Commerce, 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 the regional NABO light heavyweight title - and propelled him into the No. 1 contender's position in several sanctioning bodies' ratings.

As the top contender, he earned a fight with WBC, WBA (Super), & IBF champion Roy Jones Jr. in July 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 Glen Johnson on January 24, 2003.

WBO light heavyweight championship

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 Lineal & WBO 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.^[2]

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.^[3]

Gonzalez lost his title to Zsolt Erdei on January 17, 2004, by unanimous decision.

He 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.

In 2008 he was stopped by undefeated prospect Tavoris Cloud.

Death

On March 10, 2012 Gonzalez was killed on impact in a motorcycle accident when he was hit by a drunk driver in B.C. Sur, Mexico. The Julio Gonzalez Memorial Foundation was started in his memory ^[4][5]

Professional boxing record

See also

• List of lineal boxing world champions
• List of light heavyweight boxing champions
• List of WBO world champions

References

1. "Julio Cesar Gonzalez". Cyber Boxing Zone. 1976-07-30. Retrieved 2012-03-25.
2. "LIFE". LIFE. Retrieved 2012-03-25.
3. "Julio César González ganó título de los medios pesados de la OMB - OCT. 18, 2003 - Deportes - Historicos". El Universo. 2003-10-18. Retrieved 2012-03-25.
4. "対策や治療方法を知ってうつ病を改善していく". juliogonzalez.net.
5. "Former Light Heavyweight Champ, Julio Cesar Gonzalez, Dies in Hit and Run Accident". theboxingtribune.com.
6. "BoxRec - Julio Cesar Gonzalez". boxrec.com.

External links

• Professional boxing record for Julio César González from BoxRec