BoxeoMundial- PUERTO RICO AND THE OLYMPIC GAMES

Author: ERIC ARMIT
Date: 8/9/2009

Two questions for you. What do Wilfredo G�mez, John John Molina, Carlos Santos, Nelson Dieppa, Iv�n Calder�n, Miguel Cotto and Juan Manuel L�pez have in common, other than being great Puerto Rican world champions, and what sporting achievement has the Dominican Republic managed that Puerto Rico never has?

The answer to both questions concerns the Olympic Games. Firstly, every one of those future great professional world champions competed at the Olympics and walked away without a medal. Question two, well, last year in the Beijing Olympics F�lix D�az won a gold medal in boxing for the Dominican Republic, a feat no boxer has ever achieved in Puerto Rican colours (I have worded that carefully as the late Jos� Torres was born in Puerto Rico, but when he won his Olympic gold medal in 1956 he was in the US Army and representing the USA and not Puerto Rico, as there was no separate Puerto Rican team at the Games).

It is strange that such a strong boxing nation such as Puerto Rico cannot boast a single Olympic gold medal as in professional boxing from Sixto Escobar in 1934 up to date Puerto Rico has produced 49 world champions (editors note as of 08/10/2009 Puerto Rico has 49 world champions who have held either the WBA, WBC, IBF or WBO belt. The Puerto Rican commission currently recognizes 58 champions, but their list includes champions like Angle Chacon, Angel Manfredy and currently Jose Cruz and Victor Fonseca who hold or have held minor title such as the WBU or the IBA belt. For our list of 49 champions see the following link http://boxeomundial.net/sites/boxeo_boricua/champions.php ).

Even in other amateur competitions they have a fairly good record with Wilfredo G�mez having won a gold medal in the first World championships in 1974, Juan Molina, Carlos Febres, Anibal Acevedo and Daniel Alicea having won World Junior championships and ten Puerto Ricans having won gold medals in the Pan American Games or Championships.

Despite this success elsewhere, the efforts of 84 Puerto Rican fighters between 1948 and 2008 have resulted in the grand total of one silver medal and five bronze medals, which puts one of the strongholds of professional boxing way down near the bottom of the league table of Olympic boxing medals.

Let�s look at the Olympic picture:

1948-London

The Puerto Rican team for the first post-war Olympics in London in 1948 consisted of just three boxers, but they managed to collect a medal. Southpaw bantamweight Juan Venegas came through three rounds only to lose in the semi-finals to the eventual gold medal winner Tibor Csik from Hungary. It would be almost 30 years before another Puerto Rican representative matched that feat.

Juan finally turned professional in 1994 but lost his first three fights and retired in 1958 with a modest 9-6-1 record. His team mates, flyweight S Colon and light-heavyweight Israel Quitcon were eliminated in the preliminary rounds and as far as I can discover never turned pro.

1952 Helsinki

Once again the team consisted of three members, flyweight Pablo Lugo, bantamweight Angel Figueroa and light welterweight Juan Curet �lvarez. Lugo was eliminated in the first series and both of the others in the second round and none of theses guys turned professional as far as I know.

Puerto Rico did not send a boxing team to the Olympics in 1956 or 1960.

1968 M�xico City

With the Olympics in nearby Mexico, Puerto Rico sent a team of eight boxers to the Games-and failed completely. Flyweight Heriberto Cintr�n, lightweight Eugenio Febus, light welterweight Adalberto Siebens, and middleweight Saulo Hern�ndez were all eliminated in the first series, and bantamweight Andres Torres, featherweight Reinaldo Mercado and light heavyweight Jorge Clemente exited in the second. Cintr�n, Torres, and Hern�ndez turned professional but all flopped, although Torres did face opposition such as Lupe Pintor, Juan Laporte and Wilfredo V�zquez.

1972 Munich

Puerto Rico sent six fighters to the ill-fated Munich games. One of those was a 15-year-old flyweight named Wilfredo G�mez, who went despite being below the permitted age to compete. The others were featherweight Jos� Vell�n, lightweight Luis D�vila, light welterweight Laudiel Negr�n, welterweight Nicolas Flores and light middleweight Jos� Col�n. Davila was the big hope having won a gold medal in the Pan American Games in 1971, but again no member of the team professional progressed beyond the second series. Having had a bye in the first series, Gomez fell to an Egyptian in the second series and Vell�n and Col�n also went out in that series. So, with D�vila flopping in his first bout against a Frenchman, and Flores also failing in the first series, once again Puerto Rico had nothing to show for all of their hopes. It was a case of timing rather than lack of talent as �Bazooka� G�mez, when still only 17, won a gold medal at the World Championships in 1974.

Wilfredo of course turned pro in November 1974, and despite being held to a draw in his first fight, went on to become one of the greatest fighters of all time. He climbed off the floor in the first round to stop Korean Dong Kyum Yim in 1977 for the W.B.C. super bantamweight title. Wilfredo made 13 defences and then in August 1981lost to Salvador Sanchez in a challenge for the W.B.C. featherweight title. After four more defences of his super bantamweight title, including the epic battle with Mexican Lupe Pintor in December 1982 in New Orleans, which Wilfredo won on a dramatic stoppage in the fourteenth round, he moved up to featherweight and won the W.B.C. title by defeating Juan Laporte. Despite losing the title in his first defence to fellow Hall of Famer Azumah Nelson in December 1984, Wilfredo bounced back again and won a world title at a third weight when he decisioned Rocky Lockridge in May 1985 for the W.B.A. super featherweight title. Losing that title to modest Alfredo Layne in May 1986 really marked the end of a truly great career and after two more fights, Wilfredo retired in 1989. He is the one, who as a boy, should have been Puerto Rico�s first Olympic gold medallist.

Of the 1974 team Negr�n was the first to enter the paid ranks, doing so in October 1972, but a brittle chin let him down and after a kayo loss to Jimmy Heair in 1997 he retired with a 14-4 record.

Davila turned pro in March 1973 but had an undistinguished career, the highlight coming when he put Olympic gold medal winner Howard Davis on the floor, but Davis got up to win their fight and Luis retired in April 1979 with an 18-7 record. Col�n had a short and unsuccessful time as a professional, but Vell�n and Flores did not go over to the paid ranks.

1976 Montreal

Puerto Rico sent its biggest team so far, ten boxers, to the Games in Montreal. In the divisions from light flyweight up to light heavyweight Orlando Maldonado, Julio Guzm�n, Alejandro Silva, Carlos Calder�n, Roberto Andino, Ismael Mart�nez, Carlos Santos, Wilfredo Guzm�n, Carlos Betancourt and Jose Rosa competed for medals. They came away with the second medal in Puerto Rican history; as a team member won a bronze lifted by Orlando Maldonado at light flyweight.

Santos and Wilfredo Guzm�n both came close, being eliminated in the quarter finals, but the others went out early. Maldonado, who had also won the US National Golden Gloves title, turned pro in May 1977 and was unbeaten in his first 21 fights, winning the Puerto Rican flyweight title. However, it was a Golden Age for flyweights, and Orlando lost crucial fights to the great Miguel Canto and to Colombian Prudencio Cardona. He finally got his shot at a world title in October 1983, but lost to Rafael Orono for the W.B.C. super flyweight crown. After being stopped in 1984 by Valerio Nati, Orlando retired. His record was 26-5-2.

Carlos Betancourt turned professional in 1976 and despite winning the Puerto Rican middleweight title he came up short in matches against top opposition such as Mike McCallum, Herol Graham and Iran Barkley and after a spell of 7 losses in 9 fights retired in July 1996 with a 20-17-1 record.

It was southpaw Carlos Santos who went on to become the second Puerto Rican Olympian to win a world title. After turning professional in October 1976, Carlos won his first 22 fights. He lost to the great Wilfred Benitez for the W.B.C. light middleweight title in November 1981, but eight fights later, in November 1984, beat Mark medal to win the I.B.F. title. He made just one defence and then vacated the title in 1986. However, in June of the same year he fought Buster Drayton for the vacant I.B.F. le and lost. A defeat by Donald Curry for the U.S.B.A. title in April 1987 was the turning pint and despite scoring six more wins Carlos hung up his gloves in October 1991 having suffered just three losses against 40 wins.

Of the other team members only Silva, Andino and Mart�nez turned professional but had poor records and made no impact.

1980 Moscow

Controversy surrounded the Games in Moscow and the USA declined to send a team. Three Puerto Ricans competed, Alberto Mercado at flyweight, Luis Pizarro at featherweight and Jos� A. Molina at light welterweight. Mercado and Molina had won gold medals in the Pan American Games, but again hopes were dashed as none of the fighters reached the medal stage with Mercado losing to future world champion from Mexico Gilberto Rom�n in the second series and Pizarro and Molina going out in the quarter finals. Pizarro turned professional in 1981, but had only two fights. Mercado looked a great professional prospect as he won his first 16 fights after turning professional in October 1980. However he did not fulfil that professional promise, losing big fights to Refugio Rojas, Marcos Villasana, and an unlucky loss to future champion Antonio Rivera and Paul Banke and Freddy Cruz. Alberto walked away in 1991 with a 31-14-1 record.

Molina did not turn professional as far as I know.

1984 Los Angeles

For Los Angeles Puerto Rico sent the biggest team they have ever sent to the Games and competed in eleven divisions, missing out only on the heavyweight, but competing at super heavyweight. Rafael Ramos, Jose Rodr�guez, Juan (John John) Molina, Orlando Fern�ndez, Luis Ortiz, Jorge Maysonet, Carlos Reyes, Victor Claudio, Ar�stides Gonz�lez, Arcadio Fuentes and super heavyweight Isaac Barrientos proudly wore the vests. Molina, a former World Junior champion and Ramos a Pan American gold medallist were the big hopes and indeed in terms of medals it is the most successful Games Puerto Rico has had as they collected a silver medal and a bronze medal, but not from Ramos or Molina. Rafael lost in the quarter finals to eventual silver medallist Salvatore Todisco from Italy and Molina lost a close verdict to Dominican Pedro Nolasco in the preliminaries.

The medal heroes were Ort�z who, won his countries only boxing silver medal to date, losing to future great Pernell Whitaker in the final at 60kgs, and Gonz�lez a bronze medal at 75kgs.

To show difficult it is to gauge a fighter�s professional prospects from his amateur achievements, both Ort�z and Gonz�lez had very short and very undistinguished careers in the paid ranks, whilst Molina went on to become an outstanding two-reign champion, and Orlando Fern�ndez, who was eliminated in the preliminary rounds, also won a world title.

John John Molina turned professional in 1986. Despite losing to Tony L�pez for the I.B.F. super featherweight title in 1988 he went on to beat Juan Laporte for the vacant W.B.O. title in April 1989. He made two defences, including a revenge win over L�pez, before losing the title to L�pez in May 1990. Two years later he regained the I.B.F. title by beating Jackie Gunguluza and made seven defences including wins over Manuel Medina, Bernard Taylor, Floyd Havard, Gregorio Vargas and others. He moved up to lightweight, but lost to Oscar De La Hoya for the W.B.C. title in February 1995, and was stopped by Shane Mosley in a non-title fight in 1998. Back at super featherweight he was unsuccessful in a challenge to Roberto Garc�a for his old I.B.F. title and finally bowed out in 2001 after a loss to Juan Lazcano with a 52-7 record.

Fern�ndez turned professional in 1985 and won the W.B.O. super bantamweight title in 1990 by beating Valerio Nati in Italy. Unfortunately he lost his title in his first defence against Texan Jesse Benavides. He challenged for the same title in July 1996, losing to Marco Antonio Barrera and retired in 1997 after losing to Kevin Kelley, ending with 22 wins and nine losses.

Fuentes and Ramos had very brief and unsuccessful tries in the paid ranks. Claudio turned professional in November 1984, and although beaten by fighters such as Davey Moore and Roberto Dur�n at middleweight, he went on to challenge Michael Moorer for the W.B.O. light heavyweight title in January 1999 and then faded away to finish in 2002 with an 11-11 record.

Maysonet also turned professional in 1984 and after some early success came up short in a fight with Simon Brown for the IBF welterweight title being stopped in three rounds in Budapest in 1989. He fought on, losing to top fighters such as Luis Santana and Aaron Davis before retiring in 1994 with 22 wins and 11 losses.

1988 Seoul

From a �high �in Los Angeles it was down to rock bottom again in Seoul. Ten fighters made up the team: Luis Rom�n Rolon, Andy Agosto, Felix Nieves, Esteban Flores, Hector Arroyo, V�ctor P�rez, Lionel (Jos�) Ortiz, Ray Rivera, Nelson Adams and Harold Arroyo. No competitor was entered at 75kg or heavyweight. `

Rol�n went to the Games as a World Championship silver medallist and a PanAmerican Games gold medallist but lost a close decision to future world champion Chatchai Sasakul. Only Rivera at 71kgs made it to the quarter finals and all of the others went out in the preliminary rounds.

Seven of the team turned professional.

Rol�n moved to the professionals in July 1989 and lost a wide decision to mark Johnson for the I.B.F. flyweight title. He had only three more fights and retired in 2000 with a 19-4-1 record.

The flyweight representative, southpaw Andy Agosto, turned professional in April 1990. His peak came in 1997 when he lost on points in a challenge to Johnny Tapia for the W.B.O. and I.B.F. super flyweight titles. His low point came after a period of inactivity when in 2001 he was stopped in the first round by Luis Bola�o, and retired with a 15-3 record.

Esteban Flores went pro in April 1990. He was involved in a no decision ending with Zab Judah and stopped in one round by future champion Randall Bailey before retiring in 1998 with a modest 8-6-1 and one no decision scorecard.

H�ctor Arroyo also turned pro in 1990 and fought top opposition such as Floyd Mayweather Jr, Diego Corrales and Vivian Harris on the way to an 18-10-2 record by 2001.

Nelson Adams, the 81kg representative, had actually been the first to leave the amateur ranks in January 1990, but he quickly grew into a heavyweight and finished with a modest 10-2-1 record. V�ctor P�rez, another southpaw, went pro in 1991 but never really made an impact and was 14-2 when he stopped boxing in 1999.

Lionel Ort�z turned professional in March 1990 but lost his last two fights and following a run of four losses, including a stoppage by Jermain Taylor, he retired in 2003.

1992 Barcelona

Another medal was added to the tally in Barcelona as Anibal Acevedo , yet another southpaw, won the bronze medal at 67kgs, beating Namibia�s future world champion Harry Simon, but losing to Cuban Juan Hern�ndez in the semi-finals. The full team had eight members. In addition to Acevedo Puerto Rico sent Nelson Dieppa, �ngel Chac�n, Harold Ram�rez, Carlos Gerena, Miguel Jim�nez, Richard Santiago and Alex Gonz�lez, but all of the others apart from Acevedo failed to get through the preliminaries.

All of the team, with the exception of Ram�rez, turned professional. One went on to win a world title and four others challenged for world titles.

Light flyweight representative Dieppa turned pro in 1993. In 2000 he fought Will Grigsby for the vacant W.B.O. light flyweight title but lost on points. However, Grigsby failed a drugs test, and the result was changed to a No Decision. Nelson then won the vacant WBO title in 2001 by beating Andy Tabanas and made five defences before losing the title to Mexican Hugo Cazares in 2005. He had two attempts to regain the crown, losing to Cazares and Iv�n Calder�n, and has been inactive since April 2008 with a 25-5-2 one no decision record.

The flyweight entrant, Chac�n, went professional in 1993 and won his first 23 bouts. His world title shots came against Antonio Cermeno for the WBA super bantamweight title in May 1997 and Erik Morales for the WBC version of the title in 1999.After being unsuccessful in those fights, Angel fought on until 2007, but retired after losing three fights in a row. He was 30-8-2 with one no decision.

Miguel Jimenez, the representative at 71kg, went professional in January 1993 and his highlight was an unsuccessful challenge to Joe Calzaghe for the WBO super middleweight title in 2002.He finished in 2003 having won 21 of 24 fights.

The heaviest member of the squad-81kgs class- was �lex Gonz�lez. Alex turned professional in April 1993 and won 15 of his first 16 fights. Unfortunately when his big chance came he was kayoed in one round by Vassiliy Jirov in a challenge for the I.B.F. cruiserweight title in 2001 and after four more losses stopped boxing in 2007 with an 18-6 record.

Carlos Gerena, who handed in his vest in July 1993, looked to be on his way to a world title after winning 28 of his first 29 fights. However, it was not to be and in challenges for the W.B.C. super featherweight title he met defeat at the hands of Genaro Hern�ndez in 1998 and Floyd Mayweather Jr in 1999. He suffered three losses in a row before retiring in June 2003 with a record of 38 wins and six defeats.

Despite his bronze medal, Acevedo did not make an impression as a paid fighter. Between his first fight in February 2003 and his retirement in 2007 he managed only a 13-7-1 record. Richard Santiago made only a very brief foray into the paid ranks and made no real progress.

1996 Atlanta

The star of the team in Atlanta was Daniel Santos as he added to the medal total by winning the bronze at 67kgs. However, again the others failed, as Omar Adorno, Jos� Miguel Cotto, Daniel Seda, Luis P�rez Deyne and Jos� Qui�onez were all eliminated in the preliminaries and Enrique Flores made it to the quarter-finals where he lost to Antonio Tarver.

Having won bronze medals at two consecutive World Junior Championships and a silver medal at the Pan American Games, Santos was an obvious medal hope and it took the great Russian Oleg Saitov to just edge him out 13-11. Of course since turning pro in June 1996 Daniel has gone on to win W.B.O. titles at both welterweight and light middleweight and now holds the W.B.A. light middleweight title.

Daniel Seda turned professional in December 1996 and won his first 18 fights. His title shot arrived in 2002 when he fought a technical draw with Derrick Gainer for the W.B.A. featherweight crown. Tough losses to Joel Casamayor and Silverio Ortiz dented his hopes and despite a good 21-2-1 record, he has been inactive since 2006.

Jose Miguel Cotto, the elder brother of Miguel, had his pro fight in December 1996 and was unbeaten in his first 27 bouts before losing to Juan Diaz for the WBA lightweight title in April 2006, and has been inactive since drawing with Prawet Singwangcha for the WBA secondary title in May 2007.

Making his paid debut in December 1997, Adorno also started well with twelve wins, but after losing to future world champion Martin Castillo he fell away badly and has been inactive since March 2008 with a 16-10-1 record.

Perez, Quinones and Flores did not turn professional.

2000 Sydney

Sidney was a disappointment. Only five boxers survived the Americas qualifiers to make it to Sydney and all five were eliminated in the preliminary rounds. Miguel Cotto went to the Games as the Pan American gold medallist, and Ivan Calderon had won a Pan American bronze medal. However, in the 48kg category Calderon went out to an Indonesian in his first bout and at 63.5kg Cotto was eliminated by the eventual gold medal winner Muhammed Abdullaev. Carlos Valcarcel, Orlando Cruz and Ruben Fuchu all lost in the preliminaries.

Both Miguel and Ivan have more than made amends by winning world titles in two divisions and indeed are still champions.

Valcarcel stayed amateur for a while, but after failing to qualify for the 2004 Olympics, turned pro with only minor success and has not fought since being kayoed by Eric Morel in April 2008. Fuchu turned pro in March 2001 and despite a promising start and a record of 16-1-1, has not fought since losing to Edwin Vasquez in 2004.

Southpaw Orlando Cruz became a pro in December 2000 but has had a stuttering career with only 17 fights, 16 wins and a draw, in almost nine years. However, an impressive win over previously unbeaten Mexican Leonilo Miranda in January shows he still has potential.

2004 Athens

Every member of the five man team: Joseph Serrano, Juan Manuel Lopez, Carlos Ivan Velasquez, Alex De Jesus and Victor Bisbal, failed to get past the preliminaries. Serrano had just one paid fight in 2005 and was not able to continue to his career after tragically being shoot down outside his gym in Caguas. Thankfully he survived the ordeal, but his boxing career was cut short by the experience. �Juanama� has already made a huge impression as a pro and could go on to be one of the all-time great Puerto Rican fighters. Velasquez went on to beat Cuban Yuriorkis Gamboa in 2006 on the way to gold medal in the Central American & Caribbean Games before tuning pro in 2007 and has shown real potential in winning his nine fights. Alex De Jesus also has potential despite a lone loss to Argentinian Cesar Cuenca, his only set-back in 20 fights. Bisbal was disappointing in losing to mediocre Domonic Jenkins and has been inactive since last November.

2008 Beijing

As with Athens the five men team of McWillaim Arroyo, McJoe Arroyo, Jose Pedraza, Jonathan Gonzalez and Carlos Negron came away empty handed. The two Arroyo boys, McWillam and Joe looked the best bets, Joe having won a bronze medal in the World Championships and McWilliam being the Central American & Caribbean champion, but McJoe went out in the preliminaries and McWillam in the 4 quarter finals. Pedraza, Gonzalez and Negron also went out early. If they decide to remain amateurs until the next Olympics then both of the Arroyo�s will be in with a chance of a medal, but so far no Puerto Rican boxer has competed in two Olympics.

Both Gonzalez and Negron have already turned pro and are unbeaten, but it is impossible to say how far they will go.

You have a contrast between amateur failure and pro success. With no gold medals, and only six medals in total, won by their 84 contestants in 14 Olympic Games, Puerto Rico sits well down the table of Olympic achievements, but in the pro ranks with their total of 40, only the USA, Mexico, Britain, Japan and South Korea can claim more world champions.

In the past it could be argued that with the banning of pro boxing in the Communist countries, amateurs from the West found themselves fighting against virtual pros, so it was not a level playing field. However that is no longer the case and even the traditional strength of Cuba has been weakened by the lure of the professional ranks.

It seems incredible to think that fighters such as Wilfredo Gomez, Carlos Santos, John John Molina, Nelson Dieppa, Daniel Santos, Ivan Calderon Juan Manuel Lopez and Miguel Cotto could not even manage a single gold or silver medal between them, but at least Puerto Rican fans can feel some comfort in the fact that when it comes to professional boxing they are a national of winners and capable of producing true greats.