Leo Gamez
| Leo Gamez | |
|---|---|
| Born |
August 8, 1963 Venezuela |
Silvio Rafael Gámez (born August 8, 1963), better known as Leo Gámez, is a former boxer from Venezuela. A former world Flyweight champion, Gamez became the first Flyweight boxer in history to win world titles in four different divisions.
Gamez is considered by some boxing critics to be among Venezuela's best fighters since the Betulio González era.
He made his professional boxing debut on February 14, 1985 in Maracay, when he decisioned Francisco García over four rounds. On April 17 of that same year, he got his second victory, another four round points win, this time over Alcides Hernandez, also in Maracay. After those two wins, Gamez had six consecutive knockout wins, including two over Rafael Lara, and one in his first fight outside Maracay, held on August 14 at El Guayabo, where he beat Jose Escorcia in the fourth round. On November 28 of 1986, he would beat Escorcia's brother, Alberto, also by knockout in four rounds, at Maracaibo.
On February 2, 1987, he suffered his first "blemish", when he was held to a two round technical draw by Rafael Bolivar, at Maracay. By then, Gámez was becoming a well known boxer among Hispanic boxing fans, Guantes magazine mentioning him sporadically on their articles.
On April 30, Gámez received his first shot at a title, when he was faced with Pedro Nieves in the Venezuelan town of Turnero, for the national Jr. Flyweight title. Gamez won the championship with a second round knockout.
He defended the title one time and won a handful of non-title bouts before reducing weight in order to get his first world championship opportunity.
On January 10, 1988, Gámez fought for the WBA's vacant world Minimumweight championship against Bong-Jun Kim. In what also was his first fight abroad, Gamez became world champion for the first time when he outpointed Kim over 12 rounds in South Korea. After that victory, he became a celebrity both in Venezuela and internationally, as he went from being mentioned in articles, as aforementioned, to having articles written about him on magazines that specialized in boxing.
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