Paul Garza Gonzales (born April 18, 1964) is an American former

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 won the light flyweight gold medal at the

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the sec ...

Amateur career

Gonzales was the winner of the

Val Barker Trophy The Val Barker Trophy is presented every four years to the most "outstanding boxer" at the Olympic Games. In theory, the award goes to the top "pound for pound" boxer in the Olympics. The winner is selected by a committee of International Boxing ...

for Outstanding Boxer at those Games, after having won a silver medal the previous year at the

1983 Pan American Games The 1983 Pan American Games were held in Caracas, Venezuela from August 14 to August 29, 1983. The games were the first major international competition to include relatively accurate steroid testing.Taylor, William N., ''Anabolic Steroids and the ...

Amateur highlights

* 1983 United States Amateur Light Flyweight Champion * 1984 Olympic Light-Flyweight Gold Medalist at Los Angeles Games. Results were: ** Defeated Kwang-Sun Kim (South Korea) 5-0 ** Defeated William Bagonza (Uganda) 5-0 ** Defeated John Lyon (Great Britain) 4-1 ** Defeated

Marcelino Bolivar Marcelino is a surname that originated in Spain. There are also several families with the Marcelino surname in Philippines, Portugal, and the Americas (North, Central, and South). * San Marcelino, is a 1st class municipality in the province of Zam ...

(Venezuela) 5-0 ** Defeated

Salvatore Todisco Salvatore Todisco (August 30, 1961 in Naples – November 25, 1990) was a light flyweight boxer from Italy, who won the silver medal in the light flyweight division (– 48 kg) at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, Californi ...

(Italy) walk-over

Professional career

Gonzales began his professional career on August 11, 1985 and, in only his third fight, captured the NABF Flyweight title by defeating veteran Alonzo Strongbow Gonzalez. He defended his title once, winning a unanimous decision over legendary future Bantamweight Champion

Orlando Canizales Orlando Canizales (born November 25, 1965) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1984 to 1999. He held the IBF bantamweight title between July 1988 and December 1994. Early life Canizales who is of Mexican descent was bor ...

on July 20, 1986. After losing a controversial decision to Ray Medel for the USBA Flyweight title on June 17, 1988, he again challenged Canizales. This time on June 10, 1990, and for Canizales' IBF

Bantamweight Bantamweight is a weight class in combat sports. For boxing, the range is above and up to . In kickboxing, a bantamweight fighter generally weighs between . In MMA, bantamweight is . The name for the class is derived from bantam chickens. Bra ...

belt. In the rematch, Gonzales was stopped by TKO in the 2nd round due to cuts. After two more losses against lackluster competition, Gonzales retired in 1991. Gonzales tried to run for office, but was defeated. He was a car salesman. Gonzales was the acting president of the Queensland Olympic Council.

References

External links

* 1964 births Living people American boxers of Mexican descent Boxers from California Boxers at the 1983 Pan American Games Boxers at the 1984 Summer Olympics Olympic boxers of the United States Olympic gold medalists for the United States in boxing American male boxers Medalists at the 1984 Summer Olympics Pan American Games silver medalists for the United States Pan American Games medalists in boxing People from Pecos, Texas Light-flyweight boxers Medalists at the 1983 Pan American Games {{US-boxing-Olympic-medalist-stub