Did Wilfredo Gomez make it to the Olympics at the age of 15? Did no one care? Does no one care now? Is that the youngest olympic boxer of all time?
Amazing. He lost in the second round to an Egyptian. Surely that's got to make him the youngest. He went on to win PanAm Gold and World Amateur Gold, knocking out all of his opponents including Romero who went on to become World Amateur Champ and PanAm Gold himself. This content is protected What an amazing fighter he looked like, and became.
Can't wait to read the bio that's coming out on him. The same author that wrote the one on Duran and Arguello, Christian Guidice, wrote it.
I'll grab a copy. It just is fascinating that Gomez was a world class amateur as a 15 year old. And Benitez won a title at 17. What were they feeding those guys?
Gomez went to the olympics at 16 but was eliminated early, he then started to knocking out everybody and won the world championship in cuba, he was a prodigy, Alcides Sagarra, the trainer of the cuban team, was telling everyone about a 17 year old kid that could beat any boxer in his division.
Jackie Fields won the Olympic gold medal at age 16. Wilfredo Gomez may well be the youngest boxer to participate, at 15. I'm not sure.
I was about to say that we do the same thing as Mexicans (or Mexican Americans) and where are our prodigies. Then I remembered Baby Arizmendi and Cuevas, who won his title at 18. So it's either diet or a blatant disregard for child welfare.
