Juan Guzman (boxer)
Juan Antonio Guzman | |
---|---|
Born | Juan Antonio Guzmán Batista August 21, 1951 Bronx, New York City, United States |
Nationality | Dominican |
Other names | El Pequeno Foreman |
Statistics | |
Weight(s) | light flyweight |
Height | 5 ft 5 in (165 cm) |
Stance | orthodox |
Boxing record | |
Total fights | 34 |
Wins | 26 |
Wins by KO | 20 |
Losses | 8 |
Juan Antonio Guzmán Batista (August 21, 1951 — May 2021), better known as Juan Guzman, was a Dominican former professional boxer and WBA world Junior Flyweight champion. Due to his high percentage of wins by knockout (specially for his division, the 108 pounds limit division), he was nicknamed "El Pequeno Foreman" ("Little Foreman", after George Foreman). Guzman was born in Santiago de los Caballeros, during the Rafael Trujillo dictatorship era.
Professional career
Juan Guzman made his professional boxing debut on January 20, 1973, at the age of 21 years and almost 6 months old. He fought Francisco Gomez in
Next, Guzman battled Romon Rosario, again at Moca, knocking him out in the first round. This marked the start of an eight fight knockout winning streak which went from April 9, 1973, to October 15, 1974. As part of this streak, Guzman saw off challenges by Fausto Almonte twice; Ramon Rodriguez, Juan Barido, Sergio Rodriguez, Romon Rosario again, Juan Garcia and Juan Disla. By the time that Guzman was matched with Juan Sandoval on October 15, 1974 at
After the Sandoval match, Guzman embarked on another knockout streak, again reaching eight straight knockout victories. He beat Juan Pimentel, Miguel Minaya, Juan Disla and Fausto Almonte in back to back rematches, Domingo Santana and Sergio Garces. Each of these bouts took place in the Dominican Republic but for the fight with Garces, which was held at Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Every fight during that streak ended in three or less rounds.
On August 18, 1975, Guzman somewhat surprisingly lost his condition as an undefeated boxer when matched against Puerto Rican prospect Luis Rosario, 3–0–1 coming in, at Santo Domingo. Rosario, who had come off a draw (tie) with Rafael Solis and would later extend world champions Julian Solís (Rafael's brother) and Alfonso Zamora the ten round distance, defeated Guzman by surviving the initial rounds and extending him, before taking Guzman out in round ten by knockout.
Guzman recovered with wins over Frank Palofax and Aniceto Vargas; both those fights took place at
World championship
WBA world Junior Flyweight champion Jaime Rios of Panama was 18–1–1 when he came to the Dominican Republic to defend his title against local Guzman during June 1976. Their fight took place on July 2, at Santo Domingo. It was a close fight through 15 rounds, not much stylistically separating champion and challenger. At the end, however, Guzman was deemed winner by a very close margin, a split decision with scores of 146–145 by judge Roberto Lopez and 146–144 by judge Salcedo in favor of Guzman, referee Isidro Rodriguez voting for champion Rios by 145–144.
Guzman did not enjoy his status as a current world champion very long. Three months later, on October 10, 1976, he travelled to
Rest of career
Guzman took off more than one year away from boxing before returning on November 19, 1979, beating Santos Nunez, a fighter with a negative, 1–6 record, by a ten-round unanimous decision at San Juan, Puerto Rico. He was then defeated by Jose Ortiz on February 18, 1978, at San Juan by a ten-round unanimous decision. This result was an upset; Ortiz had never won a professional fight before, and he would never again win. On July 2, 1978, Guzman boxed future two-division, three-time world champion
Guzman's last two fights took place on September 8, 1981 at
Guzman retired with a record of 26 wins and 8 losses in 34 bouts, 20 wins coming by way of knockout. He afterwards worked as a coach at the Gleason's Gym in Brooklyn, while trying to establish a boxing school in Upper Manhattan.[1]
The former boxer died from massive heart attack in his apartment in
References
- ^ Ramón Mercedes (May 11, 2021). "Dominicanos en NY lamentan fallecimiento ex campeón mundial de boxeo Juan Guzmán". El Nacional (in Spanish). Retrieved January 6, 2022.
- ^ "Ex campeón de boxeo Juan Guzmán murió de infarto masivo en apartamento por problemas económicos que lo llevaron a depresión". Primicias (in Spanish). May 10, 2021. Retrieved January 6, 2022.
External links
- Boxing record for Juan Guzman from BoxRec (registration required)