| Juan Carlos Gómez | |
| Nickname: | Pantera Negra ("Black Panther") |
| Weight: | |
| Height: | 6 ft 3+1/2 in |
| Reach: | 80+1/2 in |
| Birth Date: | 26 July 1973 |
| Birth Place: | Havana, Cuba |
| Style: | Southpaw |
| Total: | 60 |
| Wins: | 55 |
| Ko: | 39 |
| Losses: | 4 |
| No Contests: | 1 |
Juan Carlos Gómez (born 26 July 1973) is a Cuban former professional boxer who competed from 1995 to 2014. He held the WBC cruiserweight title from 1998 to 2002, and challenged once for the WBC heavyweight title in 2009.
Defeated Jan Schwank (Germany) 9–4
Lost to Sven Ottke (Germany) 9–9
Defeated Antonio Tarver (USA) 10–10
Lost to Thomas Ulrich (Germany) 12–16
The southpaw turned pro as a cruiser for Universum box promotions.
On 21 February 1998, in Mar del Plata, Argentina, Gómez won the WBC Cruiserweight title from reigning champion, Marcelo Fabian Dominguez via a unanimous decision.
Nicknamed "Black Panther", Gómez ruled the cruiserweight division from 1998–2001, successfully defending his WBC Cruiserweight title against ten different fighters.Among his notable defenses were those against Dominguez (rematch), Imamu Mayfield and the smaller Jorge Castro who was KOd for the first time. James Toney declined a title shot when he was mandatory and later fought and beat Vassily Jirov.
He then vacated the title in February 2002 in order to move up to the Heavyweight ranks.
In 2001 Gómez tested the waters in the heavyweight division and beaten durable veteran Al Cole (another former Cruiserweight champ) by TKO 6. Gómez then moved back down to defend his title against Pietro Aurino, and after defeating Aurino he moved up to heavyweight permanently.
Gómez has had some success at heavyweight, capturing wins over Sinan Samil Sam and David Defiagbon, but was shockingly TKO'd by fellow Cuban Yanqui Díaz in the first round in 2004.
Gómez defeated Don King promoted Oliver McCall via a ten-round decision on 15 October 2005, a result which was changed shortly thereafter to a no contest after Gomez failed a post-fight drug test due to a presence of cocaine.[1] Gómez vehemently denied the charge and backed this up by producing a negative test where no drugs were found in his system, though this test was taken two months after the fight.[2]
After that Gómez announced that he converted to Islam. Gómez stated, '"After they stole my victory over Oliver McCall because of doping in October 2005 I was totally devastated. I swear that I never doped in my life. After the fight I went to the USA where I was built up by the Black Muslim community. That's why I converted to Islam. I thank Allah for giving me back my courage, energy and self esteem."' Gómez then returned to the ring on 15 December 2006 and on 19 October 2007, once again outpointed Oliver McCall winning the WBC International Heavyweight title in the process, then on 27 September 2008, at the Color Line Arena in Hamburg, Germany, Gómez defeated Vladimir Virchis to become the #1 contender for the WBC heavyweight title.[3]
Gómez faced WBC Heavyweight titleholder Vitali Klitschko on 21 March in Stuttgart, Germany. Early in the fight, Gomez managed to frustrate Klitschko by diverting a large number of jabs, but eventually Klitschko was able to establish control using his immense size and superior punching power. He was floored by a big right hand in round seven, but managed to get up. After a barrage of punches in round nine, the referee stopped the fight.[4]
On 27 March 2010, Gómez made a successful comeback, defeating Alexey Mazikin to win the WBA International Heavyweight title. He went on to defeat Alexander Kahl of Germany on April 9 in Hamburg to record his second victory in a fortnight.
| Result | Record | Opponent | Type | Round, time | Date | Location | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 60 | Loss |  Dmitry Kudryashov | KO | 1 (10), | 28 Nov 2014 | | |||
| 59 | Win | 55–3 |  Goran Delic | TKO | 5 (10), | 6 Jul 2014 | | ||
| 58 | Win | 54–3 | Ivica Bacurin | 8 | 8 Mar 2014 |  | |||
| 57 | Win | 53–3 |  Jindrich Velecky | UD | 8 | 23 Nov 2013 | |||
| 56 | Win | 52–3 | Adnan Buharalija | TKO | 2 (10), | 1 Nov 2013 | |||
| 55 | Win | 51–3 |  Maksym Pedyura | UD | 8 | 11 May 2012 | |||
| 54 | Win | 50–3 |  Darnell Wilson | TKO | 4 (8), | 21 Apr 2012 | |||
| 53 | Loss | 49–3 | Darnell Wilson | 10 | 24 Sep 2011 | ||||
| 52 | Win | 49–2 | Harold Sconiers | TKO | 4 (8), | 4 Dec 2010 | |||
| 51 | Win | 48–2 | Zack Page | UD | 8 | 31 Jul 2010 | |||
| 50 | Win | 47–2 |  Özcan Çetinkaya | UD | 8 | 4 Jun 2010 | |||
| 49 | Win | 46–2 | Alexander Kahl | UD | 8 | 9 Apr 2010 | |||
| 48 | Win | 45–2 | Oleksiy Mazikin | KO | 3 (12), | 27 Mar 2010 | |||
| 47 | Loss | 44–2 | Vitali Klitschko | TKO | 9 (12), | 21 Mar 2009 | |||
| 46 | Win | 44–1 | Volodymyr Virchis | UD | 12 | 27 Sep 2008 | |||
| 45 | Win | 43–1 | Oliver McCall | UD | 12 | 19 Oct 2007 | |||
| 44 | Win | 42–1 | Denis Bakhtov | UD | 12 | 16 Jun 2007 | | ||
| 43 | Win | 41–1 |  Adenilson Rodrigues | TKO | 1 (12), | 10 Feb 2007 | |||
| 42 | Win | 40–1 | Daniel Frank | KO | 3 (8), | 15 Dec 2006 | |||
| 41 | 39–1 | Oliver McCall | UD | 10 | 15 Oct 2005 | ||||
| 40 | Win | 39–1 | George Arias | KO | 4 (8), | 28 May 2005 | |||
| 39 | Win | 38–1 | David Defiagbon | TKO | 3 (12), | 15 Jan 2005 | |||
| 38 | Loss | 37–1 |  Yanqui Díaz | TKO | 1 (8), | 13 Aug 2004 | | ||
| 37 | Win | 37–0 | Sinan Şamil Sam | UD | 10 | 27 Sep 2003 | | ||
| 36 | Win | 36–0 | Daniel Frank | TKO | 2 (8) | 17 Aug 2002 | |||
| 35 | Win | 35–0 | Ken Murphy | TKO | 5 (8) | 16 Mar 2002 | |||
| 34 | Win | 34–0 |  Pietro Aurino | TKO | 6 (12) | 3 Nov 2001 | |||
| 33 | Win | 33–0 | Al Cole | TKO | 5 (8), | 4 Aug 2001 | | ||
| 32 | Win | 32–0 |  Jorge Castro | TKO | 10 (12), | 16 Dec 2000 | |||
| 31 | Win | 31–0 | Imamu Mayfield | KO | 3 (12), | 6 May 2000 | |||
| 30 | Win | 30–0 | Mohamed Siluvangi | TKO | 2 (12), | 11 Mar 2000 | |||
| 29 | Win | 29–0 |  Napoleon Tagoe | KO | 9 (12), | 11 Dec 1999 | |||
| 28 | Win | 28–0 | Bruce Scott | TKO | 6 (12), | 17 Jul 1999 | |||
| 27 | Win | 27–0 | Marcelo Domínguez | UD | 12 | 13 Mar 1999 | |||
| 26 | Win | 26–0 | Rodney Gordon | TKO | 2 (12), | 12 Dec 1998 | |||
| 25 | Win | 25–0 | Alexey Ilyin | TKO | 2 (12), | 3 Oct 1998 | |||
| 24 | Win | 24–0 |  Guy Waters | TKO | 6 (12), | 5 Jun 1998 | |||
| 23 | Win | 23–0 | Marcelo Domínguez | 12 | 21 Feb 1998 | | |||
| 22 | Win | 22–0 | Mike Robinson | KO | 2 | 8 Nov 1997 | |||
| 21 | Win | 21–0 |  Mike Sedillo | KO | 2 (8) | 4 Oct 1997 | |||
| 20 | Win | 20–0 | Ted Cofie | TKO | 4 (12) | 12 Jul 1997 | |||
| 19 | Win | 19–0 | Valeriy Vykhor | TKO | 5 (12) | 14 Jun 1997 | |||
| 18 | Win | 18–0 | Guy Sonnenberg | KO | 1 | 10 May 1997 | |||
| 17 | Win | 17–0 | Jose Arimatea da Silva | TKO | 9 (12) | 8 Mar 1997 | |||
| 16 | Win | 16–0 | Ron Carter | TKO | 3 | 22 Feb 1997 | |||
| 15 | Win | 15–0 | Mike Peak | PTS | 8 | 25 Jan 1997 | |||
| 14 | Win | 14–0 | Dan Ward | KO | 1 (12) | 21 Dec 1996 | |||
| 13 | Win | 13–0 | Brian LaSpada | TKO | 11 (12) | 19 Oct 1996 | |||
| 12 | Win | 12–0 |  Philippe Michel | TKO | 9 (12) | 17 Aug 1996 | |||
| 11 | Win | 11–0 |  Ludomir Dubac | TKO | 2 | 8 Jun 1996 | |||
| 10 | Win | 10–0 | Tim Knight | PTS | 8 | 4 May 1996 | |||
| 9 | Win | 9–0 | David Robinson | TKO | 2 | 13 Apr 1996 | |||
| 8 | Win | 8–0 | Eduardo Antonio Carranza | TKO | 2 (8) | 6 Apr 1996 | |||
| 7 | Win | 7–0 | Bobbie Joe Edwards | TKO | 5 (8) | 16 Mar 1996 | |||
| 6 | Win | 6–0 | Cesar Agustin Basualdo | TKO | 1 (8) | 25 Feb 1996 | |||
| 5 | Win | 5–0 | Karoly Kovacs | TKO | 2 | 10 Feb 1996 | |||
| 4 | Win | 4–0 | Keith McMurray | TKO | 4 (6) | 25 Nov 1995 | |||
| 3 | Win | 3–0 | Donnie Penelton | 2 (6) | 19 Aug 1995 | ||||
| 2 | Win | 2–0 | Hedi El Assaidi | 4 (6), | 5 Aug 1995 | ||||
| 1 | Win | 1–0 | Dale Jackson | 6 | 20 May 1995 |
| Date | Fight | Viewership | Network | Source(s) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Juan Carlos Gomez vs. David Defiagbon | ZDF | [5] | |||
| Juan Carlos Gomez vs. George Arias | ZDF | [6] | |||
| Juan Carlos Gomez vs. Oliver McCall I | ZDF | [7] | |||
| Vitali Klitschko vs. Juan Carlos Gomez | RTL Television | [8] | |||
| Total viewership | 16,160,000 |