Julio César González Ibarra (July 30, 1976 – March 10, 2012) was a Mexican

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 competed from 1997 to 2011, and held the WBO and lineal light heavyweight titles from 2003 to 2004.

Amateur career

Gonzalez was a member of the 1996 Mexican Olympic team, boxing as a light heavyweight. He was eliminated in the 1st round by eventual gold medalist Vasili Jirov of Kazakhstan.

Professional career

He entered the professional boxing ranks in 1997 after a moderately successful amateur career and gradually worked his way through the ranks of the light heavyweight journeymen. He had won his first 21 fights by the time he got his first chance at a boxing title, the regional WBC Fecarbox belt, on May 5, 2000. He defeated unbeaten fellow Mexican Jesus Ruiz on a ninth round technical knockout in

Commerce, California Commerce is a city located in southeast Los Angeles County, California, United States. The population was 12,823 at the 2010 census, up from 12,568 at the 2000 census. It is usually referred to as the City of Commerce to distinguish it from the ...

. Gonzalez followed that victory up with five more wins, including a 12-round unanimous decision over Julian Letterlough on February 2, 2001, that won him the regional NABO light heavyweight title - and propelled him into the No. 1 contender's position in several sanctioning bodies' ratings. As the top contender, he earned a fight with WBC, WBA (Super), & IBF champion Roy Jones Jr. in July 2001, in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

. Gonzalez went the distance with Jones, but lost a unanimous decision for his first career setback. He took seven months off after the loss to Jones before resuming his career and running off seven straight wins without a loss. Most notable in his comeback streak was a 10-round majority decision over former world champion

Glen Johnson Glen McLeod Cooper Johnson (''né'' Stephens; born 23 August 1984) is an English former professional footballer who played predominantly as a right back. Johnson began his career at West Ham United, spending time on loan at Millwall, and was ...

on January 24, 2003.

WBO and lineal light heavyweight champion

Gonzalez earned his second shot at a world title on October 18, 2003, when he flew to

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

for a showdown with undefeated

Dariusz Michalczewski Dariusz Tomasz Michalczewski (born 5 May 1968) is a Polish former professional boxer who competed from 1991 to 2005. He held multiple world championships in two weight classes, including the WBA, IBF, WBO and lineal light heavyweight titles ...

for the Lineal & WBO light heavyweight championship. Going into the fight, Michalczewski was positioned to tie

Rocky Marciano Rocco Francis Marchegiano (September 1, 1923 – August 31, 1969; ), better known as Rocky Marciano (, ), was an American professional boxer who competed from 1947 to 1955, and held the world heavyweight title from 1952 to 1956. He is the onl ...

's all-time record of 49 wins and no losses. He also was looking to extend his own world record of 23 straight successful defenses of the light heavyweight title. In the fight, Gonzalez seemed to take control of the action in the middle rounds, and fought back strongly when Michalczewski, a knockout artist, got him in trouble a few times. When the fight was over, Gonzalez got the verdict on a 12-round split decision; the judge from

was the lone dissenter. Gonzalez lost his title to

Zsolt Erdei Zsolt Erdei (born 31 May 1974) is a Hungarian former professional boxer who competed from 2000 to 2014. He held world championships in two weight classes, including the WBO and lineal light-heavyweight titles from 2004 to 2009 (making eleven c ...

on January 17, 2004, by unanimous decision. He challenged

Clinton Woods Clinton Woods (born 1 May 1972) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 1994 to 2009, and held the IBF light-heavyweight title from 2005 to 2008. At regional level he held the Commonwealth super-middleweight title from 1997 t ...

for the IBF light heavyweight title on September 9, 2005, losing by unanimous decision. He met Woods again in a title fight rematch on September 29, 2007. Woods again won the fight by unanimous decision. In 2008 he was stopped by undefeated prospect

Tavoris Cloud Tavoris Karod Cloud (born January 10, 1982) is an American professional boxer who held the IBF light heavyweight title from 2009 to 2013. Early life When interviewed by ESPN, Tavoris Cloud explained that he had a tough childhood. His neighbourh ...

Death

On March 10, 2012, Gonzalez was killed on impact in a motorcycle accident when he was hit by a drunk driver in B.C. Sur, Mexico. The Julio Gonzalez Memorial Foundation was started in his memory.

Professional boxing record

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gonzalez, Julio Cesar 1976 births 2012 deaths Boxers from Baja California Sur World Boxing Organization champions Road incident deaths in Mexico Motorcycle road incident deaths Olympic boxers of Mexico Boxers at the 1996 Summer Olympics Mexican male boxers Cruiserweight boxers World light-heavyweight boxing champions People from Mulegé Municipality