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Articles .....
 26/10/07
Gomez to continue following defeat.
The turbulent career of the Mancunian Mexican
Michael Gomez is set to continue for yet another high energy
chapter.
Gomez, 30, whose defeat to Carl Johanneson last
Friday (October 19) left him with a 34-8 (24) record, is not
ready to throw in the sombrero just yet.
A thrilling contest came to a premature and
controversial end with referee Mickey Vann stopping Gomez on his
feet with only 10 seconds of the 6th remaining.
Both fighters had put everything into the contest, and a rematch
will surely be mooted, regardless of whether Johanneson defeats
Kevin Mitchell in December.
Genuine bad blood had emerged between the two
fighters during their pre-fight publicity meeting, and again
during the contests weigh in. This led to a barnstorming opening
round, during which Gomez took a firm grip on the contest and
with it the ascendancy. A series of uppercuts from the outset
bloodied the nose and face of Johanneson, who seemed to lack a
little of his snap with his quick-fire responses. Gomez had
visibly intimidated the challenger, who covered up to ride
through the first round.
The second began in similar fashion. The
Manchester man remained on top of his opponent, he didn’t give
Johanneson time or space to adjust. Uppercut after hook was
drilled home and the fight looked to be unbelievably one
sided. Gomez had apparently rolled back the years, he was
looking sharp, aggressive and single minded.
The third round saw Mike explode form the corner
again, but unlike the previous two rounds Johanneson was able to
fire off a jab, followed by a straight. Slowly but surely he
was finding his feet in the fight. Johanneson looked the happier
man at the end of the third, he had for the first time in the
contest matched Gomez for work rate. It was, however, his
accuracy that would prove to be his greatest weapon.
During the fourth and fifth rounds Johanneson
took the ascendancy back. He fired accurate shots to the temple
of Gomez, followed with short uppercuts These rocked the neck of
the challenger back. Mike’s response was to keep his chin tucked
in under his guard, and attempt to march through the champion's
best and get his own shots off. Both fighters were taking big
shots and the bout was quickly turning into a fight of the year
contender, something many expected.
The sixth round was to be the final in this
thrilling contest. Johanneson dropped Gomez with around 25
seconds of the round left. Gomez had taken a flurry of big shots
at the end of the 5th round
and had been beaten to the punch consistently throughout the
sixth. Gomez rose from the knockdown and took his mandatory
eight. The action commenced but referee Mickey Vann called a
halt to proceedings as Johanneson landed another big right hand.
Gomez was standing, and there’s no doubt he was ready and
willing to return fire and remain in the trenches. Should Vann
have left the Mancunian warrior continue until he couldn’t, or
was the referee right to call a halt to his latest title tilt?
That’s something most have been undecided on since the
controversial finish. A blessing in disguise, maybe?
Gomez proved during the contest that he is far
from done. His performance will have impressed many, especially
considering the job Johanneson had done over his domestic rivals
(Corcoran, Fehintola & Burns), and the fact Mike had fought a
mere 6 rounds since his retirement following his controversial
defeat to Peter Mcdonagh.
The team at VIP have assured me Mike will be
back. He’ll fight a couple of six round contests, before looking
to make another assault on the British title. Carl Johanneson
and Kevin Mitchell are due to square off in early 2008, a fight
against the winner could be a feasible contest. Another name
that could appear on the radar of team Gomez is Femi Fehintola,
the current English super featherweight champion. One thing is
for sure, you’ve not seen the end of the Mancunian Mexican….
Sam Doleman
05/10/07
CLICK HERE to see
Michael Gomez's latest BodyStat figures.
Paul Wilson who is an associate dean at Salford University heading the
Faculty of health and social care, has provided this information for us here at
www.Michael-Gomez.co.uk
27/09/07
“Someone’s gonna get
hurt, and it aint gonna be me” – Michael Gomez
The latest comeback of Michael Gomez has
spanned a mere six rounds over two fights. Now, the original sombrero wielding
Mancunian Mexican, faces Carl "Ingemar" Johanneson on October 19th. The fight,
at Doncaster dome, will be contested over twelve rounds for the British title. A
title Gomez claims is his property.
I caught up with Gomez at the Robin Park arena, Wigan, last Saturday (September
22nd) . A show Gomez was due to headline alongside VIP promotions stable mate
Alex Matvienko. Gomez had understandably dropped out of his fight due to the
opportunity of contesting the British title. In his previous fight Mike had been
cut above both eyes in the first round by the inexperienced Youssef Al Hamidi.
It was decided the chance couldn’t be taken for this to happen again, and so
Gomez would stay out of the ring until the end of October.
I’d sat with Mike during Brian Rose’s contest with Lee Noble. The energy and
passion Gomez displayed whilst willing his training partner (Rose) through the
fight was reminiscent of his past fights. In between his frantic coaching Mike
would sit down and suddenly appear calm and composed, until the next exchange,
during which he’d be out of his seat willing his compatriot to sink hooks to the
body, or to use head movement. My interview with Mike would have to wait until
the end of the evening.
Mike returned to ringside for the interview during a break in the evenings
action. Alex Matvienko had just emerged from the ring victorious following his
hard fought points win over Martin Marshall – a Michael Gomez type affair if
ever there was one. I knew Mike would be fired up. As he took his seat he turned
to me and grinned, before exclaiming “Someone’s gonna get hurt, and it aint
gonna be me”. This was typical Gomez, upfront, confident and straight to the
point.
Since joining Bobby Rimmer Gomez has been more of an elder statesman of the gym,
passing on advice to his stablemates, and helping them during technical sparring
sessions. I enquired how his training had been going.
“Training is going really well. I was supposed to be fighting tonight, so the
weight is virtually bang on a full 6 weeks from fight night. The diet’s keeping
the weight off, and still giving me all the energy I need to train. I’ve had a
couple of nights off the running this week to make sure I don’t burn out. I know
a lot of fighters say this, but I truly am going to be in one of the best shapes
of my life. I’m ready to go tonight, never mind in 6 weeks. Bobby has been
working on getting the head movement back, working on my feints and getting the
jab working. We’ve worked on it all and it’s come together. My left jab will be
a massive weapon come fight night.”
I’d been informed Mike had sparred Johanneson before. An obvious yardstick on
how their October fight could pan out would be how the two fared during these
sessions. Mike expressed his confidence and enthusiasm as he moved from
discussing sparring, to cleanly stacking the odds in his own corner.
“We’ve sparred three or four times before. To be fair he’s a strong kid, he can
whack a bit. But then hey, so can I. I was a little bit stronger than him, and I
know that I hit a little bit harder, and I take a better shot. Don’t forget I’ve
been in wars before, massive wars, and I’ve come out victorious. The pressure is
on him, I’ve been on the comeback trail before, he hasn’t. He has everything to
lose, I’ve got nothing to lose. I remember after one spar Carl saying to me that
I made everything a war. Well that’s what I do, WARS!! He’s going to find out
they were only pretend wars, this will be a real one, and I don’t think he will
want to be in it for too long”
A common opponent for the two is dangerous Russian Leva Kirakosyan. Gomez
defeated the Russian in October of 2004, whilst Johanneson has been defeated by
the heavy handed Kirakosvan on two separate occasions, the last following four
brutal rounds in Barnsley, back in July.
“You cant take too much away form Carl for losing there. Kirakosvan is a huge
puncher. When I fought him I could feel his power. If he hit Morrales clean, or
Barrera clean, he’d have them in trouble. He had me going in the fifth but I
showed my warrior mentality and I finished him in the next round” said Gomez.
The next question I had for Mike was clearly a loaded one, and he knew it too.
It was in relation to losing home advantage for the fight, did I think he cared,
no chance. Did he think I thought he cared, absolutely no chance. Gomez had
travelled to Edinburgh and beat Alex Arthur in the Scotsman’s den, the partisan
crowd were ferocious in their support of Arthur, yet Gomez thrived from the
atmosphere. It’d take some crowd to intimidate Gomez following his experiences
in Edinburgh that night.
“What does home advantage mean? For starters I sell more tickets than him, I’ve
sold 250 myself already. It may be nearer his home town but believe you me it’ll
be a Michael Gomez crowd in there. Regardless, when that first bell goes Carl
Johanneson will realise what Alex Arthur realised. The crowd go back, and we
step forwards. He’s got my title. I never lost it. I vacated it. Now I’m coming
to take it back and regain my spot as number one Super Featherweight.”
The enthusiasm for this next title challenge was evident in Mike’s body
language. Mike has a new bounce in his step, and speaks with renewed belief for
the sport. Carl Johanneson may start slight favourite with the bookies, and
Gomez knows he is in for a tough nights work, but Mike’s prediction was an
unsurprisingly confident one…
“Gomez wins. I’m not going to sit here and make wild round choices, but I will
beat him and regain my title. Carl’s a good fighter, but he’s nowhere near my
level. I know it, you know it and after the fight he’ll know it too”.
By Sam Doleman
Channel M
Television have also filmed a special program - devoted to, Michael Gomez -
Click Here
to view.
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