In the early 1990s, Miguel Angel Gonzalez became the WBC lightweight champion. He then went on to make 10 successful defenses of his crown over a three-year period and was widely recognized as the premier fighter in the division.
Gonzalez, who was the middle child of nine children, was born in Mexico City on November 15, 1970.
“I had a happy childhood, my father and mother worked hard for us,” Gonzalez told The Ring through Paul Landeros. “I am from Roma, which is a nice neighborhood. Roma is multi-cultural, there’s wealthy, middle class and lower class, we were lower-middle class. I got along with kids the same range of economic wealth.”
Until one day, when he was 11 and he came across boxing by accident.
“I had a close friend who liked wrestling, and we discovered there was a building around the corner from the school and, in the basement, they used to have a place to keep the garbage and on the other side of that storage building they had a ring,” he recalled. “We asked for permission to go to the ring and one day the professor said, ‘You’re already coming to the gym, why don’t you train in boxing? If someone is rude or bullies you, you can do something about it.’ I fell in love with boxing immediately.”
At the gym, Gonzalez was afforded countless hours of one-to-one tuition with Joaquin Rocha, who had won bronze at the 1968 Olympics.
“I had the fortune that the trainer I met was Joaquin Rocha,” he said. “I learned from him, I learned about his style and adapted well and got good results. It was the perfect style for me. He was a good motivator. When I started noticing I was good at it the motivation grew.”
As he progressed, so did his amateur career and although he didn’t win a national title, he did impress the selecting committee.
“I had some trouble going to the Olympics because I didn’t complete the full cycle that an amateur boxer in Mexico had to complete but as I had good results outside Mexico, they decided I should go,” he said. “I defeated [future WBC junior lightweight titleholder] Gabriel Ruelas as part of a tournament in a box-off. Whoever won would receive more opportunities to travel around the world.”
Gonzalez later represented Mexico at the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games.
“I was very young when I went to the Olympics so didn’t take it in,” he admitted. “I see pictures and feel proud to be a part of it. I didn’t go as far as I expected. I was eliminated in the first round but many people said I won that fight was against [Lee Jae-Hyuk] who won the bronze medal.
“[The Olympics] was a very good experience that helped me get perspective what I was going to do with my life.”
Gonzalez, who went 63-3 as an amateur, returned home and had some decisions to make.
“I was invited to study, but having good boxing skills, people told me I would get good money if I kept fighting,” he explained. “My mother wanted me to study and not box but I knew my parents needed support and boxing could help them.
“I made $800 pesos (around $55 USD) [for my debut in January 1989.] I tried to give that money to the house but my dad told me, ‘No way, this is your money, you earned it.'”
Former lightweight champion Miguel Angel Gonzalez – Photo courtesy of WBC
“El Mago” (The Magician, as he was nicknamed early in his career) won his first 13 fights exclusively in Mexico before appearing on a Johnny Tapia undercard in Albuquerque, New Mexico in October 1990.
However, it was at the gym where he made a good impression on a promoter from overseas which afforded him a new opportunity.
“I trained in Mexico City, and one day a promoter from Japan, [Masayuki] Kanehira, [of the famed Kyoei boxing Gym in Tokyo, Japan] took some fighters from Japan and they started training here and became friends,” said Gonzalez, who went on to appear five times in Japan. “This promoter decided to take five fighters and train in Japan. They took us for one-year.
“I beat a Korean guy, [Tae Jim Moon (TKO 7)], in Japan and climbed up the rankings and earned my spot with the fight against [Ramon] Marchena [Jr.], which was a kind of eliminator. I was blessed because it was the first step towards the world title.”
When Pernell Whitaker elected to vacated his undisputed lightweight titles, Gonzalez was sitting pretty to face Wilfredo Rocha for the vacant title in Mexico City in August 1992.
“I was really nervous fighting for the title, but I was also really committed to this fight,” he said. “I went to the canvas in the second round and I got up because I really wanted to win the title. After having a tough fight, I was able to get the victory in the tenth round.
“I was really happy, very proud to get this victory for my people. We fulfilled the objective.”
Despite Gonzalez’ success, his mother still implored him to do something else with his life.
“The words of my mother were very powerful because she always told me after a fight, ‘Please leave boxing, dedicate yourself to another thing.'” he said. “She didn’t want to see me hurt. I told her, ‘This is boxing, I will keep fighting.’ I missed that kind of support other mothers give to their sons. She never went to a fight of mine.”
However, Gonzalez stuck with boxing and reeled off 10 successful defenses of his title, notably beating three-time world title challenger Hector Lopez (UD 12), future WBA titlist Jean Baptiste Mendy (TKO 5), future IBF beltholder Leavander Johnson (TKO 8).
“I always remained humble, I got that from my parents,” he said. “It didn’t go to my head. All of them were special.”
His seventh title defense was particularly interesting: “I remember the first world title fight in America against Calvin Grove in Albuquerque, I had to run across the border because I didn’t have the paperwork and had to take a flight to Albuquerque.”
His penultimate title defense saw him part ways with his long-time manager.
“I didn’t receive [my] $500,000 [purse] for a fight with [Marty Jakubowski] and was very mad at a former manager, Rogelio Robles,” said Gonzalez. “He didn’t pay me so I didn’t have a problem going to fight for a big promoter.”
That opened the doors for bigger fights, and after struggling to make weight he elected to step up to junior welterweight. After three stay busy fights he fought rising superstar Oscar De La Hoya in Las Vegas in January 1997.
“I think all the people and the excitement did affect me, I was nervous and I didn’t fight my best,” admitted Gonzalez, who lost his unbeaten record via wide unanimous 12-round decision.
“It is amazing even when he missed punches the fans celebrated. I didn’t get any support. I was pretty satisfied with the decision in that fight because he was as superstars and I did well.”
A little over a year later, after De La Hoya had vacated his title and moved up in weight, Gonzalez was matched with living legend Julio Cesar Chavez. The two collided at the Monumental Plaza de Toros México, Mexico City, in front of over 40,000 fans.
“[The promoter was] trying to break the Raul Macias record in that arena but they didn’t get to it – the arena was really crowded,” said Gonzalez, who fought Chavez to a 12-round draw.
“When the fight was over, I don’t remember what happened because Julio hit very hard. I wasn’t able to read the reaction of my team, I couldn’t see sadness or happiness in the changing room after the fight.”
Interestingly, Gonzalez says there was never any talk of a rematch.
The next big fight for Gonzalez came when he met the impressive Kostya Tszyu for the still vacant WBC 140-pound title in Miami in August 1999.
“I think I started off respecting the sport and it paid off, but against Kostya Tszyu I wasn’t humble anymore and I received what I deserved,” he said. “I started to feel pressure because round after round Abel Sanchez told me I needed to throw more punches, to do more. Maybe he was right but that put extra pressure on me. I thought, ‘Why is he telling me this? I am a Mexican fighter, I won’t quit. I will go the distance; he’s not going to knock me out. I’m ready, I’m here to fight.’ Maybe he had his reasons but I remember I was quite disappointed he stopped the fight [in Round 10.]”
After a few years in the boxing wilderness, Gonzalez twice unsuccessfully challenged for world titles at welterweight. He was bested by Ring, IBF, WBA and WBC welterweight titleholder Cory Spinks (UD 12) and stopped by WBA ruler Luis Collazo (TKO 7).
Gonzalez won two more fights before a dispute over a fine prompted him to retire from boxing with a record of (51-5-1, 40 knockouts).
In retirement, Gonzalez has found life to be difficult at times. He lost several hundred thousand in a pyramid scheme in Los Angeles.
However, that is just the tip of the iceberg for him, as he battled alcoholism for four or five years. He stayed at a rehab facility for nine months in Metepec, and was released in May 2022.
“I found refuge in alcohol,” he admitted. “I didn’t want to be here. I wanted to get something to help me after getting divorced twice, I was trying to block it out and fill a hole. I still feel that sadness but now I try to resist and endure because I really like living.
“I’m not ashamed to talk about it, it attacked me. It has happened to a lot of fighters. I’m proud of being able to defeat that. I am blessed to receive the support of my family, Julio [Cesar Chavez,] Mauricio [Sulaiman] the WBC and people all over the world.
“My example can help other fighters, so they know things like this can happen if you don’t get surrounded by the right people. That’s what I could rescue from my experience.”
Gonzalez, now 53, has two daughters and lives in Tlaxcala on the outskirts of Mexico City.
He graciously took time to speak to The Ring about the best he fought in 10 key categories.
BEST JAB
Cory Spinks: “He was fast and agile. That was a very tough fight, you can see in the fight the velocity of that jab was amazing.”
BEST DEFENSE
Julio Cesar Chavez: “The way he moved his head made it hard to land cleans shots on him.”
BEST HANDSPEED
Oscar De La Hoya: “I think it is between De La Hoya and Spinks. I would stick with De La Hoya. His speed was amazing and he was very accurate. He was intelligent and used that speed well. David Sample was very precise, he made me suffer a lot in that fight, he gave me double vision.”
BEST FOOTWORK
Spinks: “He was always moving, he never stopped. He used his legs well to counterpunch me.”
SMARTEST
Chavez: “He was very experienced because he had many fights.”
STRONGEST
Leevander Johnson: “He was the strongest. His first jab in Round 1, cut my eyelid. I beat him because I had good preparation. Luckily my blows hurt him and took me to victory.”
BEST PUNCHER
Kostya Tszyu: “Kostya for his devastating way of hitting. Julio and Oscar had a respectful power. [Kostya] made me struggle on several occasions. My corner was worried and they considered stopping the fight, which happened anyway.”
BEST CHIN
Chavez: “Chavez had a good chin. He took all those punches and not for nothing is he considered the best Mexican world champion. I remember Soberanes, he was not a champion. I landed my best punches and he laughed at it; it was very frustrating for me. He didn’t seem to be affected. I had to land combinations and stopped him with the accumulation [of shots] and not one big punch.”
BEST BOXING SKILLS
De La Hoya: “There were some fighters in the first stage of my career who were very skilled fighters and brought out the best in me. Oscar was the best in his time, he beat me and Julio.”
BEST OVERALL
Tszyu: “Kostya as he beat me by KO. His explosive way of finishing off rivals. He was a Demolition Man. Chavez and De La Hoya were both very good, true idols of the people. It was a great honor to fight them.”
Paul Landeros helped translate and make this feature possible. The Ring appreciated his assistance.
Questions and/or comments can be sent to Anson at elraincoat@live.co.uk.
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