Background
Gonzalez was born in Guerrero Negro, Baja California Sur, and claimed that Mexico was his native country although he lived in the United States for several years.
Gonzalez was born in Guerrero Negro, Baja California Sur, and claimed that Mexico was his native country although he lived in the United States for several years.
He attended Edison High School in Huntington Beach, California for 2 years and graduated in 1994. He also attended Orange Coast College in 1995.
Julio has 2 sons, Anthony Gonzalez and Julio Gonzalez Junior (Julio Gonzalez Junior, is also known as ThatOneTomahawk on YouTube). He was eliminated in the 1st round by eventual gold medalist Vasili Jirov of Kazakhstan. He entered the professional boxing ranks in 1997 after a moderately successful amateur career and gradually worked his way through the ranks of the light heavyweight journeymen.
He defeated unbeaten fellow Mexican Jesus Ruiz on a ninth round technical knockout in Commerce, California.
1 contender"s position in several sanctioning bodies" ratings. Gonzalez went the distance with Jones, but lost a unanimous decision for his first career setback.
He took seven months off after the loss to Jones before resuming his career and running off seven straight wins without a loss. WBO light heavyweight championship
Gonzalez earned his second shot at a world title on October 18, 2003, when he flew to Hamburg, Germany for a showdown with undefeated Dariusz Michalczewski for the Lineal & WBO light heavyweight championship.
Going into the fight, Michalczewski was positioned to tie Rocky Marciano"s all-time record of 49 wins and no losses.
He also was looking to extend his own world record of 23 straight successful defenses of the light heavyweight title. In the fight, Gonzalez seemed to take control of the action in the middle rounds, and fought back strongly when Michalczewski, a knockout artist, got him in trouble a few times. When the fight was over, Gonzalez got the verdict on a 12-round split decision.
The judge from Germany was the lone dissenter.
Gonzalez lost his title to Zsolt Erdei on January 17, 2004, by unanimous decision. He challenged Clinton Woods for the IBF light heavyweight title on September 9, 2005, losing by unanimous decision.
He met Woods again in a title fight rematch on September 29, 2007. In 2008 he was stopped by undefeated prospect Tavoris Cloud.
On March 10, 2012 Gonzalez was killed on impact in a motorcycle accident when he was hit by a drunk driver in British Columbia Sur, Mexico.
The Julio Gonzalez Memorial Foundation was started in his memory.
Gonzalez was a member of the 1996 Mexican Olympic team, boxing as a light heavyweight.