Watched this fight yesterday, and a couple of questions came to mind - How highly do you rate Gomez's power? Many times on here I've seen people state that Gomez was a great combination puncher and/or a great finisher, maybe downplaying his single-shot power a little. Vs Kobayashi, he landed the kind of punch that only truly naturally-gifted power punchers can use to swing a fight, a short fast left hook to the head with little leverage/backswing that effectively ended the fight as Kobayashi was a dead man walking for the rest of the contest. Gomez may not have been a one-shot artist like Julian Jackson or Bob Foster, but IMO he is the immediate level below that, a seriously heavy-hitter, especially for a lower-weight fighter. - How much has refereeing changed since then?! There is no way in hell a current referee would have let Kobayashi continue after the first KD, never mind the following. After the 2nd KD I couldn't believe it, Kobayashi was in no fit state to protect himself and the referee really was a disgrace to let it continue. Does anyone know if that ref was criticized at the time, or whether that was viewed as acceptable then? I recall the commentators registering that Duran-De Jesus III should have been stopped earlier than it was, but the commentary on my Gomez-Kobayashi is in Japanese so I dunno if they were treading a similar line or not. :good
One of the best left hooks ever.Gomez was almost going backwards as he threw it, as you say with very little leverage. Gomez was a truly great composite puncher that dismantled fighters with finesse most of the time imo.He wasn't a crushing one-shot fighter by any means, though when you hit very hard and with that kind of precision you will get the odd Kobayashi moment.I'd agree he was the level below Foster, Jackson etc the only one of the famous big punchers around Bantam at time who was on that level for raw power was Zamora imo.
The fight is a bit misleading as Gomez didn't usually get his opponents out of there with one punch. However there's no doubt he was a great puncher at 122, his KO record says it all.
It was one of the best left hooks I've ever seen. The best punches are those which land out of the blue and change the course of the fight. I love the short hook that Pacquiao used to knock out David Diaz, but Diaz had been being punished for 9 rounds by then so he was obviously softened up and ready to go at any time. The best punches, like Gomez's on Kobayashi or Rafael Marquez's exquisite knockout of Heriberto Ruiz, come out of the blue and completely decimate the resistance of a game opponent.
