Carlos Góngora Mercado (born April 25, 1989) is an Ecuadorian

professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional bouts are supervised by a regulatory autho ...

who held the IBO super middleweight title between 2020 and December 2021. As an amateur, he won a bronze medal at the

2007 Pan American Games The 2007 Pan American Games, officially known as the XV Pan American Games, were a major continental multi-sport event that took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from July 13 to 29, 2007. A total of 5,633 athletes from 42 National Olympic C ...

in Rio in the men's middleweight division.

Amateur career

Middleweight

At the 2006 South American Games southpaw Góngora lost the final to Venezuelan Alfonso Blanco. At the 2007 Pan American Games the then 18-year-old from

El Coca Puerto Francisco de Orellana (), also known as El Coca (), is the capital of province of Orellana in eastern Ecuador. The city is located in the Amazon Rainforest at the confluence of the Coca River and the Napo River (the smaller Payamino R ...

easily beat Blanco 20:6 in a rematch before losing to eventual winner Emilio Correa from Cuba in the semis 13:21. At the 2007 World Championships he beat Ivano del Monte but ran into superstar and eventual winner Matvey Korobov and lost when the referee stopped the contest. At the Copa Independencia 2008 he reached the final but lost to old foe Correa 3:16. At the Olympic qualifier he lost once again to Correa but qualified nevertheless after beating fighters like

Shawn Estrada Shawn Estrada (born April 1, 1985) is an undefeated Mexican American professional boxer in the Super Middleweight division and was a U.S. Olympian at the 2008 Summer Olympics. Estrada ran for the city council in Commerce, California. Early li ...

. At the 2008 Olympics he won his first matches against German

Konstantin Buga Konstantin Buga (born 17 June 1985 in Atbasar, Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic) is a German amateur boxer best known for qualifying for the 2008 Olympics as a middleweight. Career Buga came to Germany in 1996 and received a German passport in ...

and Greek Georgios Gazis 12:1 but a surprise quarter final loss to Indian

Vijender Singh Vijender Singh Beniwal (born 29 October 1985) is an Indian professional boxer and politician. As an amateur, he won a bronze medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, becoming the first Indian boxer to win an Olympic medal. He also won bronze medal ...

kept him from winning a medal.

Light Heavyweight

Góngora moved up to light heavyweight after the 2008 Olympics. He didn't win a medal at the 2009 World Amateur Boxing Championships. He won his first match against Gianluca Rosciglione 15:1, and his second against

Abdelhafid Benchebla Abdelhafid Benchabla ( ar, عبد الحفيظ بن شبلة; born 26 September 1986, in Zemmouri) is an Algerian amateur boxer. He represented Algeria at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China, and the 2012 Summer Olympics and is the cur ...

13:10 but lost in the quarter-final to José Larduet 10:6. In 2010 he beat Yamil Peralta and Roaner Angulo to win the

South American Games The South American Games (also known as ODESUR Games; Spanish: ''Juegos Suramericanos''; Portuguese: ''Jogos Sul-Americanos''), formerly the Southern Cross Games (Spanish: ''Juegos Cruz del Sur'') is a regional multi-sport event held between nati ...

. He won another bronze at the

2011 Pan American Games The 2011 Pan American Games, officially the XVI Pan American Games, was an international multi-sport event that was held from October 14–30, 2011, in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. Some events were held in the nearby cities of Ciudad Guzmán, ...

, losing to

Julio César la Cruz Julio César De La Cruz Peraza (born 11 August 1989) is a Cuban professional boxer. As an amateur he won gold medals at the 2016 and 2020 Summer Olympics, and the 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017 and 2021 AIBA World Boxing Championships. Amateur career ...

. He again did not win a medal at the

2011 World Amateur Boxing Championships The 2011 AIBA World Boxing Championships was held at the Heydar Aliyev Sports and Exhibition Complex in Baku, Azerbaijan from September 22 to October 10, 2011. The competition ran under the supervision of the world's governing body for amateur ...

. He beat Osman Bravo (contest stopped due to injury) but lost his next match against Yamaguchi Falcão (25:18). He lost to

Marcus Browne Marcus Browne (born November 10, 1990) is an American professional boxer who fights at light heavyweight. As of December 2020, he was ranked the world's sixth best active light heavyweight by the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board, eighth by ...

at the American Olympic Qualifying Tournament but managed to qualify for the Olympics 2012. At the 2012 Olympics, Góngora won his first match against Azerbaijani

Vatan Huseynli Vatan Huseynli is an Azerbaijani boxer. At the 2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 ...

. Góngora then lost his next match, in the round of 16, against Kazakh Adilbek Niyazymbetov. Niyazymbetov would go on to the finals.

Professional boxing record

References

External links

PanAm 2007 results
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gongora, Carlos 1989 births Living people Sportspeople from Esmeraldas, Ecuador Middleweight boxers Boxers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Boxers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Boxers at the 2011 Pan American Games Olympic boxers of Ecuador Ecuadorian male boxers Pan American Games bronze medalists for Ecuador Pan American Games medalists in boxing South American Games gold medalists for Ecuador South American Games silver medalists for Ecuador South American Games medalists in boxing Competitors at the 2006 South American Games Competitors at the 2010 South American Games Medalists at the 2011 Pan American Games 21st-century Ecuadorian people