GATO GONZALEZ' DISCUSSION THREAD

[Rodolfo Gato Gonzalez]

Juan---

I wasn't able to get the link from clicking on your post, but I went into the MODERN section and was able to find it. The explanation of the Gancho was correct. Gancho is a hook--no matter were you throw it, to the chin or the liver. To be specific, Gancho a la quijada means a hook to the chin either a right or a left. Gancho al higado means a left hook to the liver. In my case I was taught to hit a left hook to the liver and finish up with a left hook to the chin. That was the routine that worked best for me. Not many fighters in this world know how to set up their opponent for a perfect liver shot that you can hit accurately 100 percent of the time and never miss if it is done right. You just don't see it anymore. The new generation has never been taught.

It was a very nice interview with him.

El Gato

[Juan C Ayllon]

Hi Rodolfo,

Thank you. I appreciate that.

By the way, I just caught wind of the loss of your sister-in-law, as when I posted up, I didn't read the posts prior to my piece. My deepest condolensces. Wow. That's got to be rough. I'm sorry.

I hope you and your loved ones find solace and healing in these troubled times.

Your friend,


Juan

[Rodolfo Gato Gonzalez]

On Wednesday evening Barbara and I went to dinner at Allan Syers home in Mission Viejo to meet family members from England who were visiting for the holidays. Other family members and friends were there also. Many photos were taken with all of us. I guess you would call it a night of Allan Syers , "The Beatle" and of "El Gato". Allan was a great lightweight fighter but had to retire early because of an accident where he lost some of his fingers. He had fought some of the same fighters I fought such as Claudio Adame. The two of us sparred together a few times also. All of the men there watched my Carmona fight and had alot of compliments for me. We all had a great time.

Allan has just gone through chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant. He looks good and is in good spirits. I know he would appreciate all of your prayers.

El Gato

[Dan Hanley]

Rodolfo, I was looking over your record and the fight with Kid Irapuato has always intrigued me. He had beaten some really good fighters and was coming off a 10 round non-title loss to reigning Featherweight champ Davey Moore when you knocked him out in 6 rounds. Moreover, I think you were only about 15 when you fought him. Did someone have it in for you? Because on paper, it looked like a boy against a man, which is what it was. Can you elaborate on this fight and what led up to it's signing?

Dan

[Rodolfo Gato Gonzalez]

Dan---

That is a great question. My manager, Angel Casillas, never explained to me who I was fighting or what kind of a fight record they had. If I asked him who I was fighting he would answer me with a big cigar in his mouth, "They all are tough, but who cares--so are you." He was very confident of me. I believe Irapuato was my 22nd fight of my career. You are right when you said I was only 15 years old. Irapuato was probably about 27 years old. I had no idea that he had fought a world champion when I fought him but I was very confident in myself because I had been sparring with Kid Anahua in Guadalajara. I considered him one of the most talented fighters I ever sparred with.

Now I get it as I have been thinking about it. These top fighters that were fighting me in small towns outside of Guadalajara were using me as a tune up. Before my last fight in Guadalajara before moving to Tijuana, I had 30 more fights for a total of 52 fights, winning 50 by knockout and I was then only 17 years old. Also 45 of these 52 fights were scheduled for 10 round fights and I won my first 35 fights by knockout. and of those 50 KO's, 16 were in the first round.

This in itself is a miracle as I was under nourished with not much food to eat and on top of this my liver illness was getting worse.

El Gato

[Dan Hanley]

I can see how they would have considered you just a tuneup with your age and all. You must've been some shock to their system, which brings up another question. Were you getting to be known down in Mexico as a real threat? Was it word of mouth or was the boxing media even commenting on some of the smaller shows outside Guadalajara? Also, when you came up to L.A. for your fight with Lecho Guererro was there any buzz going around like, this is that kid from Mexico with all the KO's? The reason I ask is because today, between heavy, sophisticated media and the internet being what it is, you would not be a well kept secret. If you showed up today with a 52-0 (50 KO's) everybody would be awaiting your arrival to see the new phenom from Mexico. Was there any attention when you came up North?

Dan

[gregbeyer]

dan,
that is an interesting question about what was known of rodolfos record in L.A.

evidence to the fact that it was not known is ring announcer jimmy lennon giving a shortened version of his record before his winning the title from carmona. have you ever noticed that?
greg

[Dan Hanley]

Greg, absolutely. I also have several writeups of Rodolfo's fights from old Ring magazines and his record differed, sometimes wildly, from bout to bout. I don't think they had any hard fact. Moreover, they were prone to use anything out of the old Ring record book, which was glaringly incomplete on El Gato and many others. Hank Kaplan, historian extraordinaire, goes by the credo when researching a record that, "1st rule on research is having to assume that everything in the Ring Record book is wrong." I recently watched a tape of Art Hafey against Rolando Pastor and only shook my head as commentator Jim Healy talked about Hafey's two wins over Famoso Gomez. He was obviously reading from the Ring Record book or what was prepared for him which probably came from the same source. The 2nd fight with Gomez was only a year previous and Hafey actually lost that fight on a 10 round decision witnessed by our own Rudyrooter and corroborated by Art himself. Today no one would make that mistake in our information tech society. But before we got handy with computers we were certainly limited to what we got on a fighter.

Dan

[gregbeyer]

dan,
so true. but in regards to jim healy. don't put anything past him. the guy could f#$k up a wet dream. he reminded me of the ted knight character on lou grant. it was part of what kept him around. he took a lot of heat from people but seemed to walk thru it like mr. mcgoo on a construction site. he probably rung more beer out of his suits than most people drink but he was always there in the thick of it. i would love to find a copy of the first robertson-navarro fight because i was there with a drunken cousin sitting a few rows behind healy's mic as my cousin hurled insults at him all nite. i would imagine these insult were recorded along with healy's sometimes bizzare commentary.

you know this record thing is another example of how gato was lost in the shuffle of the years. rick farris tells me that gatos 35 straight ko's might be a record for a champion fighter. that is an accomplishment that should have grabbed hall of fame voters right away but still is little known. he is , i believe, still hindered on the east coast because of the other gato being thought to be ours.
greg

[wildhawke11]

Dan and Greg.
Gato said that even the voters on the panel of the Hall of Fame had being given a misleading record with a lot of his wins left off. When i wrote to them i made a major point of giving them his true record.
In fact i got a really nice mail back from a couple of them thanking me and they said it would be put right.
Main thing is though in the end the *Gato Team* pulled it off and justice was done and our Champ got the reward he fully deserved,

[Rodolfo Gato Gonzalez]

Dan---

To answer your question about being widely known in Mexico....No, I was not. I was only known locally in the state of Jalisco. Guadaljara is the Capitol of the state. When I went to fight these fighters in the small towns, cars with loudspeakers would drive up and down the streets of the town announcing the fight. That was my media in addition to the local newspaper. The small towns had loud music playing in the arenas before the fights to attract people. It was like a carnival atmosphere and the arenas were always sold out. My fight record was not widely known to other fighters from other states. 90 percent of the time I didn't know who I was fighting or what type of fight record they had either. The most I knew about them was their name, that's all. However, when I fought in Guadalajara I was on local television and in the newspaper evey time I fought so I was the local idol and so was Alacran Torres.

Rick Farris called me today to tell me what type of fight record Kid Irapuato had. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. He had fought the best featherweights in the world. Dave Moore, Jose Becerra, Ike Chesnut, Boots Monroe and more. Wow! If I would have known that I would have called in sick that night.

To answer your second question---In Los Angeles somehow the Mexican population knew about me but they didn't know I was in the United States. I was scheduled to fight Don Johnson in the month of March, 1963. I came into the US on Feb.12 and only trained 2 days at the Main Street gym when I was asked to fight Licho Guerrero on Feb. 15(the next day) because his scheduled opponent, the California Featherweight Champion, Danny Valdez called in sick. I wasn't feeling well myself as my liver was swollen and hurting, but they offered me $800 so I took the fight. Nobody knew I was fighting that night until I went into the ring. It is amazing that I went the distance with him. He cut me pretty bad that night and that was the first cut of my boxing career. When I lost the fight by decision that was my first loss of my boxing career as well.To make matters worse they only paid me $27. They claimed it cost them alot of money to bring me here. After this, for the next two years I did not fight. I had a bigger fight to fight--a fight for my life.

El Gato

[gregbeyer]

thats right! irapuato fought all those guys not to mention that before he fought gato the "kid" held victories over the murderous punching duo of dwight hawkins and pajarito moreno. killers!

and so at 27 and a seasoned pro"kid irapuato" gets knocked out by RODOLFO "EL GATO" GONZALEZ..... who is three months shy of his 15th birthday!!

more of these things need to be brought to the attention of the voting members of the IBHOF.

ready for another go danny?
greg

[wildhawke11]

Be a tough nut to crack open that one Greg i fear. Might be a question of who you know to kick that door down.

[gregbeyer]

WBHOF or IBHOF... just seem like different pieces of the alphabet. i really do think that if all the facts on rodolfo where known and put forth much the way we did it before...hey...we got a shot...no?
greg

[gregbeyer]

here is a starting point.

international boxing hall of fame
1 hall of fame drive
canastota, n.y.
13032

with the induction of carlos palomino into the IBHOF it seems that west coast guys are getting their foot in the door of the canastota hall. for longevity, caliber of opposition and overall ring accomplishments it is a travesty that the record and career accomplishments of RODOLFO "EL GATO" GONZALEZ trail behind those of palomino.

if it is still the case that the original "gato" suffers because of a fighter that came later this needs to be overcome once again. we should all write letters to clarify this anomaly.

we should also state fully that his full record and many accomplishments..i.e. the 35 fight knockout string, the addition of him in the ring magazine all time puncher category and the extreme hardship he overcame be reviewed as to his merit to be placed among other hall of fame fighters.

RODOLFO "EL GATO" GONZALEZ earned his place in the IBHOF many many years ago. he has been a stalwart of the CBZ and a true gemtleman in answering our questions and deserves our support. as i reach for pen and pad i hope all here at the CBZ do the same.
greg

[gregbeyer]

just got word that i am to be put in touch with dan cuoco of IBRO to state our case for gato. IBRO is one of the most respected of boxing resources.

join in guys! this is a stand we need to take. we can accomplish this. it is time to turn up the volume.
greg

[Rodolfo Gato Gonzalez]

Greg---

Thank you so much for your post and for putting the address up for the IBHOF. That would be great if the readers would write to the people in New York on my behalf. It may take some time to get through to them because they don't know my fight record and they have no idea of the caliber of fighters that I fought. And like you say, they may have me confused with the other "Gato" Gonzalez who fought much later than me in the 80's.

I had a good laugh today when I was talking with Rick Farris on the phone. He was telling me the type of fighters I had been sparring with way back when I was 15 years old such as Kid Anahua. I had no idea who I was in the ring with. Rick told me he had fought Jose Napoles, Ismael Laguna, Ultiminio Ramos, Dwight Hawkins and David Moore to name a few. I just learned all of this today and was shocked. Rick said no wonder I was beating up all my opponents. I was training with the best.

Maybe some of you would like to know the names of some of the fighters I fought in my career. Most people remember me for only the last few fights of my career.
After my recuperation from my illness I fought Ramon Sarmiento, Claudio Adame, Pete Gonzalez, Fermin Zoto, Juan Collado, Ernie Villaflor, Jimmy Robertson, Chango Carmona, Ruben Navarro, Antonio Puddu and Clemente Muzino. These were some of the best I fought.There are alot more, but all of those fights took place in Mexico.

Greg, would you like to post a link from this thread to my fight record that is on the CBZ which is under Latino Boxing? Maybe it would be helpful for our readers that would like to write to the IBHOF.

El Gato

[gregbeyer]

gato...absolutley. whatever info we can pass on will help in our quest.

by now you know that i saw some of your best fights in LA . i consider myself knowlegable in this sport and saw some of the best fighters that ever came out of those days in LA boxing. without doubt, in my mind, you were one of the finest and Well deserving of the title of inductee into the IBHOF.
GREG

[BDeskins]

We should not only send letter to the Hall, but also get a list of the voters and send letters to them as well. Like I said earlier in this thread, "Gato" has been a trememndous inspiratration to me on some of the difficult and serious issues that have occured in my life during the last few years. Not only was he an awesome boxer, but also a wonderful human being who would be a fantastic addition to the IBHOF. I'll write a letter up in the few days and keep it on my computer until we can get addresses to the voters. Dan Cuoco has been an absolutely great director for the IBRO and definately someone who will try to get it done.

[theironbar]

Gentlemen, I was just looking at El Gato's BoxRec record and they have a ton of opponents listed as having 0 fights! I am sure that was not the case, these men were experienced fighters, but it certainly won't help our cause as it doesn't do the Champ's early career justice. Any documentation or letter sent to the IBHOF or voters has got to address this BoxRec deficiency in El Gato's record and show the full quality of opponents.

-Peter

PS-As you can tell, I'm on board for El Gato in the IBHOF in 2007! If I can be of any assistance, my e-mail and contact info is on my profile. BTW, what about a real, honest-to-goodness petition? I could then certify 100 or however many copies of the original and we could send that to the IBHOF voters and whomever else we need to "petition" ourselves. Hell, we could set up something at the IBHOF induction this year to inform and get fans to sign.

PPS-One last thing -- I just looked at the list of fighters on the eligibility list for the modern category that voters vote on -- the Champ's name was absent. I think that's our first step -- getting that fixed.

[Rodolfo Gato Gonzalez]

Greg, Barry, and Peter---

Thank you all for your great support. With friends like you we will go all the way. You are all so right when you say boxrec doesn't have any of the records correct on the fighters from Mexico.

Prior to coming into the United States in 1972 I had 52 professional fights in Mexico and 46 of these fights were 10 round fights. Obviously if a fighter had only 1 to 4 fights as stated in boxrec he would not be fighting a 10 round fight. I will name some of the best 10 round fighters I fought in Mexico.
Fight number 8 of my career I fought Juan Arias who was the State Champion of Guanajuato. He probably had about 30 fights by this time. I knocked him out in the first round.
Another fighter was Antonio Luna who was a loud mouth shouting names at me at weigh-in time. We almost got into a fight in front of the commissioners. He was a tough smart fighter and had been around a long time. I knocked him out in the 6th round.
David Rodriquez was another one who was a local idol in one of the towns I fought in. He had a big following. I knocked him out in the 3rd round.
Two other good fighters I fought were Seferino Garcia and Kid Irapuato. They were skilled fighters and made my fight more difficult.Garcia was about 25 and Iraputo about 27. Both had been around for a long time and had many fights.
After winning my first 35 fights by KO, fight number 36 was the first fight where I went the distance against Jose Luis Castillo. I won by a very tight decision. Castillo wasn't happy with the decision so he asked for a rematch. In the rematch I knocked him out in the 3rd round. Before I fought him he had about 28 professional fights. I still hadn't reached my 16th birthday yet.

And the list goes on.....

El Gato

[Dan Hanley]

Rodolfo and Pete, hopefully the IBHF doesn't put alot of stock into some of those stats. If so, then they would also have to discount the records of guys like Julio Cesar Chavez, Gaspar Ortega and Jose Luis Ramirez, because they too have records littered with these guys who are supposedly '0-0'. You once told me, Rodolfo, that record keeping was never big in some of these towns. I think this proves that. A kid from Chicago named Joey Ruiz who was fighting here locally, was sent down to Mexico to learn the trade by his Dad who was from there. By the time he returned he told me of the education he got down there from some of those '0-0' guys. So those fighters are not to be taken lightly.

Greg, Barry, Gor, etc.

I'm ready for another go, guys. We did it before with the WBHF, let's do it again with the IBHF. Of course the starting point would be just getting El Gato's name on the ballot first. However, put me in coach, I'm ready!.

Dan

[theironbar]

Hi Dan -- how did things work with the WBHOF? Was it more lobbying the hall than the voters? I don't want to turn all this into an episode of the Apprentice or anything... unless it was that episode with Anna Kornikova... but what's the prototype for rectifying HOF injustice? In any event, I think getting El Gato on the ballot is definitely the first step -- and El Gato -- I apologize for speaking of you momentarily in the third person -- I've got my barrister/advocate hat on!

-Peter

[gregbeyer]

peter,

rodolfo's induction into the WBHOF came after we got together a list of voting members. many of us here then wrote letters to each. dealing with the IBHOF i understand will be a little different. dan cuoco from IBRO sent me a very nice e-mail after i contacted him saying that we should actualy write a paper on the champ. he made a point that we respectfully sumbit this paper to three key members of the IBHOF. since i subscribe to IBRO he said to make sure that i used the title IBRO boxing historian, which is news to me but i think it wise to include any such credentials such as trainer,boxing writer, CBZ member to let them know we are not just zealous fans but people who know this sport well enough to give an opinion on rodolfo's place in the IBHOF.

perhaps dan hanley would be kind enough to organize our different input and write this paper. there is much in gato's thread that can be included.

it is always important to not let the champ be confused with the gato gonzalez that started his pro career in 1978. our gato fought from 1959-1974.

i have the list of these three key members along with their adresses. they are ed brophy, herb goldman and hank kaplan. i will post their adresses at a later date or better yet send them to your personal e-mail.

so ....here we go. if anyone has any ideas on how to get gato what he has for so long deserved please post them here. you guys that were around for the last induction might want to sharpen your pencils. after the paper is submitted we should then be free to write letters of our own. anyone wishing to reach me in regards to gato's being placed on the ballot my home # is 1-360-650-1412.
greg

[theironbar]

Hi Greg -- that sounds like the perfect plan -- the "El Gato paper" and then the (respectful) letters to the key administrators at the IBHOF. Then onto the ballot and then... well, one thing at a time.

What's your vision of the paper? I see a thorough bio of El Gato, some key photos -- a very professional job -- and of course we include an informative sketch of the competitive Mexican and Californian boxing scene in the '60's and 70's... I think context will be so important... I mean, those 35 KO's in a row were against good competition!

-Peter

[gregbeyer]

peter,

my vision?? i like your idea. are you equiped to do all that? i think we should include excerpts of some CBZ posts. bring mention to his WBHOF induction.

his record, for me, speaks for itself, 89 fights winning a title along the way and ending up with an 81-7-1 mark with 71 knockouts...you had to have been fighting someone. sadly we can not verify the records of all his opponents but hey, it was in mexico...so you know they were tough.

dan hanley has written some pieces on gato and i am hoping he weighs in again soon. danny wildhawke took pen in hand the last time and i am sure will jump in to the fray...gordoom is with it as well as the banished yet not forgotten...we need all.
greg

[wildhawke11]

Well here is my thoughts for what there worth. Right now the only thing on the voters minds and the IBHOF is this years event. So i don't think now is the best time to flood the voters with mail from us. The first move we all agree is to get Gato's name on the voting list for next years event. Then when this years is all over and forgotten, and before thoughts turn to next years inductees that's the best time to bombard the voters with our thoughts. Because if we do it now it will all be forgotten by the time thoughts turn to next years event. I Mean how many times can you write to the same people before they start throwing the mail in the bin. We i feel have to get there attention at the right time, and timing it right i feel is very important if we want them to sit up and take note.

If would be nice to know the type of person that we would be dealing with because different types of men react very different to each other. Some respond to direct clear cut talking, Others you need to flatter a little, but i have found that the best way is sometimes to try to appeal to the persons inner kinder side. I mean try to get him remembering something that you put in your mail and he cant get it out of his mind. My way might not of course suit all but it works for me.

The most important thing i feel is to get the them on your side and we wont do that by constant bombardment right now. Timing as i said is so important, By the way Greg if you write to Dan Cuoco again tell him wildhawke 11 ( Danny ) is 100% in agreement that we have a just case here. The reason i say that is because i know him through both of us working on that boxing simulation *Title Bout* a while back and without blowing my own top i know he respects very much my opinion as we got on really well and shared many of the same thoughts. Even if none of you agree with my views at least you have lost nothing by letting it run through your minds.
Cheers Gentlemen

[wildhawke11]

Peter
Thats good thinking great to have you in the camp
Cheers Buddy
Danny

[gregbeyer]

danny,
see...thank god you weighed in. timing is everything here.

it is good to consider the best time to start with the actual implementing of our campaign. right now i like peters suggestions on the bio.

what would you call D-DAY ? i must admit that in the past these functions come and go with little thought by me. being in the position of wanting to get a name put on the ballot makes this different, of course. maybe you can set your sight on the dates...when the bio should be completed...how far before the next balot do we best begin. if this could be done in a year it would frankly, amaze me. but that should be our goal. falling short of that the next or the next.

eventually gato needs to be in the IBHOF. if we get that done sitting on our duffs before a computer. well worth taking the shot.

so danny you going to tackle this timing thing?
greg

[Rodolfo Gato Gonzalez]

Dan, Peter, Greg, Wildhawke, and Barry---

Wow! You guys are setting up a great plan. I love reading all your ideas and comments. And Danny, I think you are right about the timing to start the action. Anything I can do to help all of you to get me there just ask. If you need photos or a copy of the video of my championship fight against Chango Carmona to send to Canastota, let me know. The two people I talk to most about my boxing career and of the fights in the 60's and 70's are Dan Hanley and Rick Farris. They are very knowledgable of the fighters that I fought from that era and both are outstanding writers in my opinion. Dan Hanley has written a story on me a few years ago that is on the CBZ WAIL that some of you might want to read. If you need any information from me just let me know.

Now for some big news!!!

Barbara and I are leaving for Cancun on Thursday to attend the WBC Convention and I have been told they are bringing in 150 boxing legends from all over the world for the weekend. I feel honored to be among those invited. Besides the banquet, there will be a parade, a golf tournament and a world championship boxing show. It will be televised, but I don't know if it will be aired right away or if it will be shown at a later date. On Thursday we fly to Mexico City and will be met by Mr. Alberto Reyes, the owner and president of Industria Reyes (boxing equipment company) and the following day the WBC has arranged for two charter planes to fly all the invited guests from Mexico City to Cancun. It should be very exciting. We'lll be taking alot of pictures. We return on Feb. 2nd and will tell you all about it.

El Gato