Julio César González Ibarra (July 30, 1976 – March 10, 2012) was a Mexican professional boxer who competed from 1997 to 2011, and held the WBO and lineal light-heavyweight titles from 2003 to 2004.
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.
Professional 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 and lineal light heavyweight champion 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.
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 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.
Professional boxing record
ResultRecordOpponentTypeRound, timeDateLocationNotes49Loss41–8Felipe RomeroUD12Sep 30, 201148Loss41–7Felipe RomeroUD12Aug 7, 201047Loss41–6Tavoris CloudTKO10 (12), Aug 8, 200846Loss41–5Reggie JohnsonSD12Feb 23, 200845Loss41–4Clinton WoodsUD12Sep 29, 200744Win41–3Vitaly KopytkoTKO3 (10), Nov 16, 200643Win40–3Rodney MooreKO3 (8), Jul 20, 200642Win39–3Jason DeLisleUD12Nov 17, 200541Loss38–3Clinton WoodsUD12Sep 9, 200540Win38–2Montell Griffin6 (12), May 5, 200539Win37–2David TelescoTKO8 (10), Dec 18, 200438Win36–2Orlando RiveraUD10May 21, 200437Loss35–2Zsolt ErdeiUD12Jan 17, 2004 36Win35–1Dariusz Michalczewski12Oct 18, 2003 35Win34–1Manu NtohUD10Jun 6, 200334Win33–1Kenny BowmanTKO3 (10), Apr 11, 200333Win32–1Glen JohnsonMD10Jan 24, 200332Win31–1Thomas ReidTKO3 (10), Oct 12, 200231Win30–1Jonathan YoungTKO9 (10), Jun 29, 200230Win29–1Joseph KiwanukaTKO7 (10)Apr 27, 200229Win28–1Tyrone ArmsteadTKO2 (10), Feb 22, 200228Loss27–1Roy Jones Jr.UD12Jul 28, 200127Win27–0Konstantin SemerdjievRTD5 (10), Apr 8, 200126Win26–0Julian LetterloughUD12Feb 2, 200125Win25–0Jorge AmparoTKO5 (8), Sep 23, 200024Win24–0Patrick Swann4 (12), Jul 29, 200023Win23–0Tony MenefeeTKO4 (10), Jun 22, 200022Win22–0Jesus RuizTKO9 (12)May 5, 200021Win21–0Dave BooneKO5 (10)Mar 11, 200020Win20–0Gary CampbellKO2 (8)Dec 3, 199919Win19–0Wilson SmithTKO3 (8), Oct 4, 199918Win18–0Akinobu YamamuraTKO3 (8), Jul 31, 199917Win17–0Reggie RobertsUD8Jun 21, 199916Win16–0Francisco BarraKO3 (8)May 14, 199915Win15–0Paul JonesKO2 (6), Mar 8, 199914Win14–0Gustavo EnriquezUD6Dec 7, 199813Win13–0Charles Davis6Sep 26, 199812Win12–0Derrick EdwardsUD6Jul 20, 199811Win11–0Aljenon DeBoseKO4 (6)Jul 11, 199810Win10–0Calvin CombsTKO5 (6)May 28, 19989Win9–0Jude AguUD6Mar 26, 19988Win8–0Nathaniel MilesUD6Feb 23, 19987Win7–0Zaire PattersonUD4Dec 8, 19976Win6–0James BrockKO2 (4)Sep 29, 19975Win5–0Charles JeffersonUD4Aug 11, 19974Win4–0Robert RiosTKO1 (4)Jun 27, 19973Win3–0James Brock1 (4)Jun 9, 19972Win2–0Alex Federov2 (4)May 30, 19971Win1–0Alex Federov4Apr 7, 1997
See also List of light heavyweight boxing champions List of WBO world champions List of Mexican boxing world champions
References
External links