Silvio Rafael Gámez (born August 8, 1963), better known as Leo Gámez, is a Venezuelan former professional boxer who competed from 1985 to 2005. He is the first boxer in history to win world titles in the four lightest weight divisions, having held the World Boxing Association (WBA) minimumweight title from 1989 to 1990, the WBA light flyweight title from 1993 to 1995, the WBA flyweight title in 1999, and the WBA super flyweight title from 2000 to 2001.
Gámez is considered by some boxing critics to be among Venezuela's best fighters since the Betulio González era.
Debut/The 1980s He made his professional boxing debut on February 14, 1985, in Maracay, when he decisioned Francisco García over four rounds. On April 17 of that same year, he got his second victory, another four round points win, this time over Alcides Hernandez, also in Maracay. After those two wins, Gámez had six consecutive knockout wins, including two over Rafael Lara, and one in his first fight outside Maracay, held on August 14 at El Guayabo, where he beat Jose Escorcia in the fourth round. On November 28 of 1986, he would beat Escorcia's brother, Alberto, also by knockout in four rounds, at Maracaibo.
On February 2, 1987, he suffered his first "blemish", when he was held to a two-round technical draw by Rafael Bolivar, at Maracay. By then, Gámez was becoming a well known boxer among Hispanic boxing fans, Guantes magazine mentioning him sporadically on their articles.
On April 30, Gámez received his first shot at a title, when he was faced with Pedro Nieves in the Venezuelan town of Turnero, for the national Jr. Flyweight title. Gámez won the championship with a second-round knockout.
He defended the title one time and won a handful of non-title bouts before reducing weight in order to get his first world championship opportunity.
On January 10, 1988, Gámez fought for the WBA's vacant world Minimumweight championship against Bong-Jun Kim. In what also was his first fight abroad, Gámez became world champion for the first time when he outpointed Kim over 12 rounds in South Korea. After that victory, he became a celebrity both in Venezuela and internationally, as he went from being mentioned in articles, as aforementioned, to having articles written about him on magazines that specialized in boxing.
He had several managerial problems after winning his first world championship, however, and he was able to defend that title only one time, knocking out Kenji Yokozawa in three rounds at Japan. When he suffered a broken arm not too long after, he decided to vacate the title, and took an extended lay-off from boxing.
On October 29, 1989, Gámez was finally able to make a comeback, and he knocked out Victoriano Hernandez in five rounds that night. After one more win, he attempted, for the first time, to win the WBA's world Jr. Flyweight championship. On April 29, 1990, he was faced with long reigning world champion Myung-Woo Yuh, once again, in South Korea. Gámez lost a controversial twelve-round decision; many fans and observers thought he deserved the win, and the WBA ordered an immediate rematch. On November 10 of that year, he would again fight Woo Yuh in South Korea, and, once again, Woo Yuh won by a twelve-round decision to retain the world title.
The 1990s Disillusioned, Gámez took off almost one more year off boxing. But he returned, inspired with the idea of winning the WBA's world Flyweight championship. Having been promised a title try by the WBA, he began training and, after his training was complete, he returned to South Korea, where he challenged WBA world Flyweight champion Yong-Kang Kim on November 5, 1991. Gámez once again lost by a twelve-round decision, but he decided to stay active in boxing after that loss.
Gámez won four fights in a row before once again dropping weight in order to challenge for a world title. His third try at the WBA's world Jr. Flyweight title, which was vacant after Woo Yuh's retirement, came on November 21, 1993, against Shiro Yashiro, in Tokyo. Gámez finally won the world Jr. Flyweight title, his second world championship, by knocking Yashiro out in nine rounds. He defended the title successfully three times, with fights in Panama and Thailand (twice), before losing it to Hi-Yong Choi on February 4 of 1995, once again in Korea. On May 20 of that year, he won the regional WBA Fedelatin Flyweight title by defeating Aquiles Guzmán by a twelve-round decision in Paraguay.
Gámez's first opportunity at joining the elite group of fighters who have won world championships in three different divisions, and his second attempt at becoming world Flyweight champion, came on March 24, 1996, against world champion Saen Sor Ploenchit in Thailand. Gámez failed that time, however, dropping a twelve-round split decision to the champion. Then, he lost the Fedelatin title in a rematch with Guzmán, held on October 7 at Maracay. Guzmán outpointed him over twelve rounds as well.
Gámez became, once again, disillusioned with boxing. In 1998, however, he returned to the sport, knocking out Gilberto González on November 3 in eight rounds in Venezuela, to regain the Fedelatin title.
Gámez joined the exclusive group of champions to win titles in three or more divisions, at the same time becoming the first one among those to be world Flyweight champion, when he knocked out defending WBA world Flyweight champion Hugo Rafael Soto in the third round on March 13, 1999. The fight, held at New York's Madison Square Garden, also marked Gámez's debut as a professional fighter in the United States. After this win, Gámez received a hero's welcome at Caracas' Simón Bolívar International Airport.
The 2000s On May 29, he won the WBA's "interim" world Super Flyweight championship by knocking out former WBO world Jr. Flyweight champion Josué Camacho in the fifth round at the Roberto Clemente Coliseum in San Juan, Puerto Rico. He was not generally considered to be a four division world champion, however, because the WBA had conditioned their recognition of him as world Super Flyweight champion on either one of two things happening: the real champion, Hideki Todaka, would have to decide to leave his place as champion or Gámez would have to beat him in a fight in order to be recognized as champion. After losing the Flyweight crown on September 3 to Sornpichai Kratingdaengym by knockout in eight rounds at a Thai hotel, Gámez received an opportunity to solidify his status as WBA world Super Flyweight champion, when the official champion, Todaka, gave him a shot on October 9, 2000.
Gámez made history once again, joining the small group of boxers who have won world titles in four different divisions, first quadruple same organization world champions (all WBA four champions) and becoming both the first one among those to have held the world Flyweight title and the first Venezuelan in that group, when he knocked Todaka out in seven rounds at Nagoya. On his first defense, held on March 11, 2001, in Yokohama, Japan, he lost the crown by a ten-round Technical knockout to Celes Kobayashi.
After one more win, Gámez attempted to join the very exclusive group of fighters to win world titles in five different divisions, when he lost to WBA world Bantamweight champion Johnny Bredahl by a twelve-round decision, on November 8, 2002, in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Gámez, as of 2014, is currently training young boxers in San Juan de los Morros in the Guarico state, and many other cities in Venezuela.
Retirement After losing to Prakorb Udomna of Thailand, Gámez decided to retire for good from boxing, leaving with a record of 35 wins, 12 losses and 1 draw, 26 of his wins coming by knockout. His last fight was held in Thailand.
Professional boxing record
ResultRecordOpponentTypeRound, timeDateLocationNotes48Loss35–12–1 Prakorb UdomnaUD12Dec 22, 2005 47Win35–11–1 Dioberto JulioTKO6 (10)Aug 13, 2005 46Loss34–11–1 Volodymyr SydorenkoUD12Oct 26, 2004 45Loss Hideki TodakaSD12Oct 4, 2003 44Loss34–9–1 Johnny BredahlUD12Nov 8, 2002 43Win34–8–1 Fidel RomeroUD10Apr 27, 2002 42Loss33–8–1 Celes KobayashiTKO10 (12), Mar 11, 2001 41Win33–7–1 Hideki TodakaKO7 (12), Oct 9, 2000 40Loss32–7–1 Sornpichai KratingdaenggymKO9 (12), Sep 3, 1999 39Win32–6–1 Josué CamachoTKO8 (12), May 29, 1999 38Win31–6–1 Hugo Rafael SotoKO3 (12), Mar 13, 1999 37Win30–6–1 Gilberto GonzálezKO8 (12)Oct 3, 1998 36Loss29–6–1 Aquiles GuzmánPTS12Oct 7, 1996 35Loss29–5–1 Somchai ChertchaiSD12Mar 24, 1996 34Win29–4–1 Alvaro MercadoTKO4 (12)Sep 18, 1995 33Win28–4–1 Aquiles GuzmánPTS12May 20, 1995 32Loss27–4–1 Choi Hi-YongUD12Feb 4, 1995 31Win27–3–1 Pichit Chor SiriwatTKO6 (10), Oct 9, 1994 30Draw26–3–1 Kaaj ChartbanditSD12Jun 27, 1994 29Win26–3 Juan Antonio TorresTKO7 (12), Feb 5, 1994 28Win25–3 Shiro YahiroTKO9 (12), Oct 21, 1993 27Win24–3 Oswaldo OsorioKO2 (?)Jul 11, 1993 26Win23–3 Carlos Alberto RodriguezPTS10Dec 19, 1992 25Win22–3 Benedicto MurilloTKO6 (?)Jun 12, 1992 24Win21–3 Rafael JulioKO4 (?)May 9, 1992 23Loss20–3 Kim Yong-kangUD12Oct 5, 1991 22Loss20–2 Yuh Myung-WooUD12Nov 10, 1990 21Loss20–1 Yuh Myung-WooSD12Apr 29, 1990 20Win20–0 Mauricio BernalTKO7 (?)Dec 15, 1989 19Win19–0 Victoriano HernandezKO5 (?)Oct 29, 1989 18Win18–0 Kenji YokozawaTKO3 (12), Apr 24, 1988 17Win17–0 Kim Bong-JunUD12Jan 10, 1988 16Win16–0 Victoriano HernandezPTS10Oct 10, 1987 15Win15–0 Alfredo ReyesTKO2 (12)Aug 22, 1987 14Win14–0 Leonardo ParedesTKO4 (?)Jun 23, 1987 13Win13–0 Pedro NievesKO2 (?)Apr 30, 1987 12Win12–0 Jose G CastilloTKO5 (?)Mar 21, 1987 11Win11–0 Rafael BolivarTD2 (?)Feb 2, 1987 10Win10–0 Alberto EscorciaKO4 (?) Nov 28, 1986 9Win9–0 Jose G CastilloPTS8Oct 31, 1986 8Win8–0 Rafael LaraKO3 (?)Sep 30, 1986 7Win7–0Fidel GonzalezKO5 (?)Jul 26, 1986 6Win6–0 Rafael LaraKO6 (?)Apr 19, 1986 5Win5–0 Alberto PimientaKO6 (?)Nov 5, 1985 4Win4–0 Jose EscorciaKO3 (?)Aug 14, 1985 3Win3–0 Jose G CastilloKO5 (?)Jun 11, 1985 2Win2–0 Alcides Hernandez PTS4Apr 17, 1985 1Win1–0 Francisco Garcia PTS4Feb 14, 1985
Titles in boxing Major world titles WBA minimumweight champion (105 lbs) WBA light flyweight champion (108 lbs) WBA flyweight champion (112 lbs) WBA super flyweight champion (115 lbs)
Interim world titles WBA interim super flyweight champion (115 lbs)
Regional/International titles Venezuelan light flyweight champion (108 lbs) WBA Fedelatin flyweight champion (112 lbs) (2×)
See also List of boxing quadruple champions List of minimumweight boxing champions List of light-flyweight boxing champions List of flyweight boxing champions List of super-flyweight boxing champions
Notes
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