Gomez Says He Needs KO, Because Judges Would Favor Canelo…WOODS

Alfonso Gomez is supposed to be just another notch on Canelo’s belt. A step up from the Spice Boys, the 30 year-old Mexican American would appear to be the perfect next step on the 21-year-old Canelo’s climb to where his backers foresee he will be, a pay per view attraction capable of amassing a million buys, and pillowy piles of dough, within two years.

Gomez is a name, largely off of his “Contender” stint, and has some nice scalps on his resume. He beat Arturo Gatti, and Jose Luis Castillo, and is seen by and large as a proud, resolute pugilist who will put it all on the line to get it done.

Of course, if you want to dig down, you know that he beat end-of-the-line Gatti, in July 2007, in what would be the Human Highlight Film’s final fight. And the 36-year-old Jose Luis Castillo he beat in March 2010 is a guy who was playing out the string, fighting for money, because he can’t figure out what else to do with his life. And of course when Gomez has really stepped up, as he tried to do against Miguel Cotto in 2008, he was sent back down the ladder. Add to that, Gomez has the sort of pop–that is to say, not that much pop–which is attractive as Golden Boy looks to keep the WBC’s 154 pound champion Canelo unbeaten. There is minimal chance that Gomez touches Canelo’s respectable chin, and crumples him in a heap with one vicious left hook.

Matt Hatton had a 33% KO percentage, Ryan Rhodes was a bit more dangerous at 62%, and Gomez is somewhere in between, with a 41% KO percentage.

There’s a bunch of reasons why Gomez (23-4-2 with 12 KOs) will lose at the Staples Center, the site of the split promotion extravaganza, along with the Mayweather-Ortiz tangle at the MGM in Vegas. But the boxer himself, in an interview with Marcos Villegas on the Boxing Channel, certainly sounded like he won’t be there to be the patsy when he fights Canelo (37-0 with 27 KOs) on Sept. 17.

No, he said, he doesn’t consider Canelo the toughest boxer of those he has met since turning pro in 2001. Miguel Cotto, Castillo, Peter Manfredo are all people he considers tougher than the kid. But he does respect the import of the opportunity. “It is the most important fight of my life because this is going to give me the world title I’ve wanted so long and the stardom I want so much,” he said. “He’s definitely a tough fighter, you have to put the work in to become world champion..But the big companies Golden Boy and Televisa and all the people behind him have really paved the road for him to become world champion.”

You had to like Gomez’ candor, as he told us he needs to win by KO because “if I leave it to the people getting paid by Canelo Promotions you know what’s going to happen, they’re going to give it to their boss.”

Please log on to the Boxing Channel to see the interview in its entirety (http://www.boxingchannel.tv/alfonso-gomez-says-that-canelo-opponents-so-far-have-been-hand-picked), and log on to our Forum to give us your thoughts on this matchup, and Gomez’ chances in the scrap.