Although he lost last night on Showtime you cannot help but admire Alphonso Gomez (23-6-2, 12KOs). Ever since his debut on the TV Show “The Contender” where he challenged a far more experienced fighter in his first fight and defeated him, he has done nothing but impress me with his rugged tenacity and willingness to go for broke in every fight. In this fight he absorbed several bone crunching unintentional head butts that would have forced lesser fighters or quit and he even made it to the final round after receiving more withering head shots to punctuate all the pain he must have been feeling. From the showtime crew, to OTG blogtalk Radio, to a previous opponent who remarked “I fought Gomez in my 3rd pro fight, he’s always been a tough SOB”, the consensus is universal, ALPHONSO GOMEZ comes to FIGHT. All hail Alphonso Gomez a fighter who embodies what boxing is all about even if he does not win – Michael Amakor 7/29/12
As in September, I once again ran out of gas in the 10th & 11th championship rounds of October & November with this column, but I recovered to complete them and will unleash a few more flurries to close out the 12th and final round.
In the first week of October, Hassan N’Dam won a UD over Curtis Stevens in an eliminator for the right to challenge Jermaine Taylor who defeated aging Sam Soliman to regain the IBF Middleweight title. How Taylor even earned this title shot is another story altogether, but it is all irrelevant as he is now the champion. However he will not have too much time to savor his victory as he has assault and battery charges pending against him and an upcoming court fight that may turn out to be the toughest fight of his life, just when things started to look up for him in boxing, we wish him luck.
