Harold Gomes
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Harold Gomes (born August 22, 1933) is an American former professional
boxer Boxer most commonly refers to: * Boxer (boxing), a competitor in the sport of boxing *Boxer (dog), a breed of dog Boxer or boxers may also refer to: Animal kingdom * Boxer crab * Boxer shrimp, a small group of decapod crustaceans * Boxer snipe ee ...
who competed between 1951 and 1963. The highlight of Gomes's career came in 1959 when he won the world super featherweight title against
Paul Jorgensen Paul Jorgensen (April 5, 1935 – August 6, 2008) was a super featherweight professional boxer from Louisiana. Personal life Jorgenson was born in Tallulah, Louisiana, and made his residence in Port Arthur, Texas. Professional career Jorgense ...
.


Professional career

Gomes fought as a professional for the first time in September 1951 at the age of 18. His debut was against Billy St Pierre at the
Rhode Island Auditorium Rhode Island Auditorium was an indoor arena in Providence, Rhode Island, at 1111 North Main Street. It hosted the NBA's Providence Steamrollers from 1946 until 1949, and the Providence Reds ice hockey team until the Providence Civic Center (now t ...
in his hometown, the venue for his first thirteen professional fights. Billy St Pierre was knocked out in the second round, giving Gomes his first professional victory. Gomes remained undefeated until January 1954, when he lost a ten-round decision to Tommy Tibbs, a man that Gomes had beaten twice in 1952 and once in 1953. In March 1954 Gomes claimed the first title of his career when he beat Johnny O'Brien, via a twelve-round
unanimous decision A unanimous decision (UD) is a winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts and other sports involving striking and submission in which all three judges agree on which fighter ...
, for the USA
New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...
featherweight title at the
Boston Garden The Boston Garden was an arena in Boston, Massachusetts. Designed by boxing promoter Tex Rickard, who also built the third iteration of New York's Madison Square Garden, it opened on November 17, 1928, as "Boston Madison Square Garden" (late ...
. Gomes suffered two knockout defeats in the second half of 1954, both to Tibbs in
Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
. Following his second knockout loss to Tibbs, Gomes won twelve fights in a row, including a rematch against O'Brien for the New England title. His run of victories was ended in August 1957 when he lost a unanimous ten-round decision to Isidro Martinez at the
Boston Arena Matthews Arena (formerly Boston Arena) is a multi-purpose arena in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the world's oldest multi-purpose athletic building still in use, as well as the oldest arena in use for ice hockey. The arena opened in 1910 on wh ...
. After eight successive victories following his loss to Martinez, Gomes fought for the vacant world super featherweight title against Jorgensen, a man he had defeated earlier in the year, in July 1959. The fight lasted the fifteen round distance, with Gomes knocked down four times and Jorgensen repeatedly cautioned for low blows. The scorecards of the judges were all in favour of Gomes, thus making him the new world champion. Following his world title victory, Gomes was named '' The Ring''s Fighter of the Month. Gomes's world title reign was ended in his first defence, when he lost to the
Filipino Filipino may refer to: * Something from or related to the Philippines ** Filipino language, standardized variety of 'Tagalog', the national language and one of the official languages of the Philippines. ** Filipinos, people who are citizens of th ...
challenger
Flash Elorde Gabriel "Flash" Elorde (March 25, 1935 – January 2, 1985) was a Filipino professional boxer. He won the lineal super featherweight title in 1960. In 1963, he won the inaugural WBC and WBA super featherweight titles. He holds the record at supe ...
in March 1960. Gomes, who was the betting favourite, was fighting outside the United States for the first time, as the contest was held at the
Araneta Coliseum The Araneta Coliseum, also currently known by naming rights sponsorship as Smart Araneta Coliseum, is an indoor multi-purpose sports arena that is part of the Araneta City in the Cubao area of Quezon City, Philippines. Nicknamed as "the Big Dom ...
(now SMART Araneta Coliseum) in
Quezon City Quezon City (, ; fil, Lungsod Quezon ), also known as the City of Quezon and Q.C. (read in Filipino as Kyusi), is the List of cities in the Philippines, most populous city in the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a populatio ...
. The sellout crowd of 26,000 watched Elorde knock Gomes down five times en route to a seventh-round knockout victory. A rematch took place in August at the Civic Auditorium in San Francisco. Elorde claimed the victory after one minute and twenty seconds of the opening round. Elorde scored a knockdown with a left hand to the face, and although Gomes was able to rise to his feet at the count of seven, he was knocked out with a combination soon after. Gomes did not participate in a world title fight again in his career, which contained eight further fights. After four successive wins, he lost a
split decision A split decision (SD) is a winning criterion in boxing, most commonly in full-contact combat sports, in which two of the three judges score one particular competitor as the winner, while the third judge scores for the other competitor. A split dec ...
to Johnny Bizzarro before being knocked out in his final three professional fights, including his final fight, a one-round knockout defeat to Dave Coventry in October 1963, in London.


Championships and accomplishments

*
Cauliflower Alley Club The Cauliflower Alley Club is a non-profit fraternal organization, which includes a newsletter and website, comprising both retired and active professional wrestlers and boxers in North America. Established in 1965 by Mike Mazurki and Art Abram ...
** Boxing Honoree (1994)


References


External links

* , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Gomes, Harold Living people 1933 births Sportspeople from Providence, Rhode Island Super-featherweight boxers World super-featherweight boxing champions Boxers from Rhode Island American male boxers