71 Facts About Michael Gomez

Michael Gomez was born on Michael Armstrong; 21 June 1977 and is a former professional boxer who competed from 1995 to 2009.

Michael Gomez was born to an Irish Traveller family in Longford, Ireland, spending his early years in Dublin before moving to London and later Manchester, England, with his family at the age of nine.

Michael Gomez held the WBU super featherweight title from 2004 to 2005.

Michael Gomez, who has been compared to Johnny Tapia, has lived a turbulent life and was often involved in controversial fights.

Michael Gomez appeared to be "back on track" in 2003, with his high-profile fight against Edinburgh-based fighter Alex Arthur for the British and WBA Inter-Continental super-featherweight titles, which Michael Gomez won by knocking out Arthur in the fifth round.

In 2006, Michael Gomez suffered a controversial loss to Peter McDonagh when, in the middle of a round, he dropped his guard and walked out of the ring, later saying he had retired from boxing.

Michael Gomez returned to the ring after a 15-month interval.

On 21 June 2008, Michael Gomez lost what was seen as possibly his last bout: a last chance saloon opportunity to resurrect his career against rising star and Olympic silver medallist Amir Khan.

Michael Gomez Armstrong was born into an Irish traveller family in Longford, Ireland.

Michael Gomez's mother went into labour with him while driving, so his partially sighted father took over the wheel but crashed the car into a lamp post on the way to the hospital; Michael was delivered in the back seat.

The Armstrong family moved to Ballymun, Dublin, and, when Michael Gomez was age nine, to Manchester, England.

Michael Gomez's mother had taught him to shoplift as a child, and he was involved in petty crime throughout his youth in Manchester.

Michael Gomez played football for a local North Manchester team until the club received so many fines for Armstrong's fighting on the pitch that they were unable to pay them.

Michael Gomez chose the professional surname "Gomez" when the British Boxing Board of Control required him to select another name at the time of his registration as a professional; there was another boxer in the same weight division using the name "Michael Armstrong".

Michael Gomez chose his ring name in honour of Puerto Rican boxer Wilfredo Gomez, whose videotaped fights Armstrong had studied intently as a youth.

The name, combined with Michael Gomez's "brawling style", earned him the nickname of "the Irish Mexican".

Michael Gomez developed a ring persona based on this nickname, which has remained popular with fans throughout his career.

Michael Gomez wears long Mexican-style boxing shorts in the colours of the flag of Ireland and often has the shape of a shamrock shaved into the hair on the back of his head.

In 1996, Michael Gomez was charged with murder after a gang fight outside a nightclub in Manchester.

Michael Gomez had hit one of his attackers, Sam Parle, who died after his head hit the pavement as a result of the blow.

The charge was later reduced to manslaughter and Michael Gomez was cleared after it was ruled that he had acted in self-defence.

Michael Gomez followed his first title win by adding another championship, the IBF Inter-Continental featherweight title, with a second-round knockout over Nigel Leake.

Later that year, Michael Gomez relinquished his championship belts in a bid to move up to the super featherweight division.

Michael Gomez's first fight in the division, in September 1999, was for the vacant British super featherweight title, against the experienced and much heralded Liverpudlian fighter Gary Thornhill.

In November 1999, Michael Gomez faced off against Mexican Jose Manjarrez for the WBO Inter-Continental super featherweight title, walking away with the title based on the judges' scores after the full twelve rounds.

In 1999, Michael Gomez won four title belts, was undefeated during the year and was named "Young Boxer of the Year" by the British Boxing Writers' Club.

Michael Gomez continued his winning form into 2000 with another run of six wins, and successfully defended his British super featherweight title against Dean Pithie, Carl Greaves and Ian McLeod.

Michael Gomez's first fight in 2001 was on 10 February against Hungarian boxer Laszlo Bognar for the WBO Inter-Continental super featherweight title, in Widnes, Cheshire.

Michael Gomez had Bognar on the canvas in the fifth round, but Bognar recovered from this knockdown and used his southpaw jab to keep Michael Gomez from closing in.

Michael Gomez felt the fight had been stopped prematurely and that he should have been allowed to continue.

Michael Gomez later stated that he was suffering from flu and should not have taken the fight.

Michael Gomez sought a rematch against Bognar, and five months later in July 2001 the pair met again, this time in Manchester, resulting in a victory for Michael Gomez.

Michael Gomez came back to knock Bognar down near the end of the second round.

Michael Gomez came out firing at the start of the third round and finished the fight with a fourth and final knockdown to avenge his earlier defeat.

Michael Gomez followed up his victory over Bognar with a second-round knockout of Scottish fighter Craig Docherty for another British super featherweight title win.

Michael Gomez took several punches to the face, and his nose began to bleed heavily starting in the sixth round.

Michael Gomez followed the defeat to Lear with a string of three wins, all by knockout.

Michael Gomez was "boozing, brawling and womanising", and was convicted of four drink-drive offenses.

Michael Gomez was a strong favourite to win the bout against Gomez, who was perceived to have been through too many battles and abused his body too much, and the fight was seen as a stepping stone on Arthur's way to a future world championship.

Michael Gomez proved his critics wrong when he arrived at the fight in prime condition and with aggression, determination and desire.

The match was turning into a clash of opposing styles, Arthur displaying control and boxing technique and Michael Gomez storming forward with wild ferocity.

Michael Gomez cut Arthur in the third and silenced the home crowd, who were not used to seeing the home-town hero being battered in this manner.

Michael Gomez knocked down his opponent twice before delivering a jarring left hook to Arthur, knocking Arthur to the canvas for the third time.

Referee John Coyle stopped the fight, and Michael Gomez won with the resulting TKO in the fifth round.

In March 2004, Michael Gomez fought Ghanaian Ben Odamattey for the WBU super featherweight title at the MEN Arena in Manchester, winning the championship by stopping Odamattey in the third round.

Michael Gomez retained his WBU title in his next two fights against Justin Juuko and Leva Kirakosyan with knockout wins.

Michael Gomez then faced Argentinian boxer "El Vikingo" Javier Osvaldo Alvarez in February 2005, fighting at the MEN Arena in Manchester.

Michael Gomez appeared to win the first two rounds behind stinging jabs, but Alvarez seemed unruffled.

Michael Gomez began quickly in the fourth round, attacking Alvarez from behind his jab and working his way through his opponent's defense.

Michael Gomez beat the count and Alvarez then moved in to continue his attack.

Michael Gomez was out of the ring for almost a year following the Alvarez fight and was next due to fight Willie Limond for the WBU lightweight title, but turned down the opportunity for a chance to fight for an Irish title.

Michael Gomez then signed up to fight fellow English-based Irishman, Peter McDonagh, for the Irish lightweight title on the undercard of a Bernard Dunne fight on 28 January 2006 at the National Stadium, Dublin.

The first four rounds were relatively close, with Michael Gomez leading according to pundits, but the fight ended in the fifth round under bizarre circumstances when for no apparent reason Michael Gomez stopped fighting and failed to defend himself.

Michael Gomez then received a number of unanswered punches from McDonagh before being floored.

Michael Gomez rose from the canvas immediately but appeared to ignore the referee and walk towards his corner while the referee continued with his count.

Michael Gomez then left the ring as the referee was waving the fight off.

Michael Gomez later explained the loss by saying that "it was all very simple, I just came to a decision in there that I need to retire from boxing full stop".

Michael Gomez further indicated that he planned to pursue a career in bodybuilding.

Michael Gomez sought a second opportunity to fight McDonagh; in April 2007, he offered to fight for only his training costs.

Michael Gomez found himself drawn to boxing after watching a fight between Alex Arthur and Carl Johanneson, and resumed training.

Michael Gomez had left the Phoenix Gym and was now training at Bobby Rimmers' Boxing Academy in Stalybridge, Manchester, and had returned to fight in the super featherweight division.

Michael Gomez won the fight with a stoppage in the third round.

Michael Gomez then signed up to face Leeds's Johanneson on 19 October 2007 at the Doncaster Dome, Doncaster, England for the British super featherweight title.

Johanneson had just come off his second defeat to Armenian Leva Kirakosyan, whom Michael Gomez had knocked out in October 2004.

Michael Gomez won the opening rounds and threatened to overpower Johanneson from the opening seconds.

Michael Gomez fought Amir Khan for the Commonwealth lightweight title at the National Indoor Arena, Birmingham, on 21 June 2008, Michael Gomez's thirty-first birthday.

Michael Gomez did not attend the scheduled pre-fight press conference, prompting Khan to deride him, and promoter Frank Warren accused Michael Gomez of failing to show respect to Khan and the media.

Michael Gomez caught Khan in the ribs with a left hook in the fourth round which left Khan unstable for a moment, but Khan responded with a flurry of hooks and jabs.

Khan landed a "cracking left hook" in the fifth, but Michael Gomez beat the count.

At 2:32 of the fifth round, referee John Keane stopped the fight when Michael Gomez was knocked into the ropes by a Khan left uppercut.

Michael Gomez saw the fight as an opportunity to reignite his career; in an interview shortly before the fight he spoke of how "[t]his fight really is my last chance to set myself up for life and become known in every household in Britain".