HOF boxer, three-division champion Wilfredo Gomez dies at 69 — SkimNews
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- Wilfredo "Bazooka" Gomez died Saturday night at 69, with his son telling Puerto Rican news outlets he had been hospitalized with respiratory complications.
- Former WBO president Paco Valcarcel confirmed Gomez's death on social media, writing that he owed Gomez for entering "the great family of International Boxing."
- Gomez won the WBC junior featherweight world title in October 1977 at age 20, overcoming a first-round knockdown to finish South Korea's Dong Kyun Yum.
- Gomez defended his junior featherweight title against Carlos Zarate and Lupe Pintor, establishing himself as one of the greatest in the division's history.
- Gomez later captured world championships at featherweight and junior lightweight, making him a champion in three weight classes.
- Gomez retired from professional boxing in 1989 and was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1995.
- Gomez was born near San Juan in 1956 and represented Puerto Rico at the 1972 Olympics.
Why it matters: Puerto Rico loses one of its most accomplished boxers — a three-division world champion whose career stretched from a 1972 Olympic appearance through his 1989 exit and a 1995 Hall of Fame induction, cementing a legacy that defined an era of junior featherweight boxing.
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