LOOKING BACK AT THE BEST IN WASTED TALENT
San Francisco, CA-In the world of boxing, nothing is what you can call a cinch. You see, for every success story in boxing, there are probably a thousand or more instances of failure. In the mid 1980s, the late writer Jack Fiske and I were invited to watch 19-year-old David Gonzalez of Houston, TX, train. Being the Fiske wheelman, together we went across the pond to Oakland to witness this so called, fistic phenomenon. So impressed was Jack that this man of a few words on the way home says, You know if he (David) stays out of trouble, he could be great.
DAVIDS DARK CLOUDS WOULD NEVER GO AWAY
The trouble the Hall of Fame writer was referring to was a shooting death attributed to Gonzalez. Cruising in a car with two guys in Houston, David, then 16, and seated in the back seat, accidentally fired a handgun he was holding. Unfortunately for the kid who was sitting in front of him, the alleged misfire took off part of his head and killed him. With this promising amateur boxer now dead, juvenile authorities ruled the death, against the protests of the kids parents and some community leaders, an accidental shooting. Little did anyone know that killing and death would play a huge role in the life of David Gonzalez!
DEATH FOLLOWED DAVID TO CALIFORNIA & BEYOND!, The idea then was to get David out of Houston. Being born in San Jose, CA, David came west and set up camp in the south bay. After a draw with Ernie Landeros that reeked of injustice, Gonzalez went on a tear winning five straight, including a tenth round KO of Felix Jawbreaker Gonzalez, all before a August 1988 fight with Rico Velasquez. Rico, the defending (sic) California lightweight champion, came into the fight with a broken nose and two black eyes.
THE FIGHT WAS AS ONE-SIDED AS THEY GET!
The Gonzalez-Velasquez bout was as one-sided a fight as youll ever imagine, with knockdowns of Rico beginning in the first round. Velasquez, a proud guy whose skills were moderate at best, was 15-5 coming into this San Jose Civic Auditorium bout of August 19, 1988. After the fourth or fifth round, I started hollering at referee Hank Elespuru, to stop the fight! Tired of counting, I guess, Elespuru in one round just let Gonzalez pound on a defenseless Rico whose butt was being supported by the bottom rope.
PEDRO PLEADS WITH LATE-ARROGANT REFEREE
Prior to the start of the eighth round, against the wishes of the aforementioned Jack Fiske, I went straight to referee Elespuru. Screaming at Hank, I yelled, Stop it Hank, before the kid gets killed. Being the snooty one that he was, Hank, took a towel, wiped off his brow, and said, Go back and sit down kid. Let me do my job. But you arent, I replied, This guys going to get killed.
ONE MINUTE LATER & RICO VELASQUEZ IS DEAD!
Not sixty seconds would transpire between my saying that, and the death of Rico Velasquez. Lying there and not breathing, it was I who got the oxygen to Rico, albeit to no avail, as the ringside MD was a handicapped fellow on steel crutches who could not climb into the ring. Thats how screwed up California boxing was in 1988 with Ken Gray running the Commission. Velasquez would officially be declared dead two days later, after life-support measures were removed. David Gonzalez, not even 20 years old yet, now had the blood of two men on his hands.
NO SIGNS OF A CONSCIENCE IN GONZALEZ
Having the opportunity to be around Gonzalez, before and after the Velasquez fight, I didnt notice even the slightest change in the fighter, except that he was now fighting as a welterweight. There was no real reason for it, except David didnt want to cut weight anymore. A split decision loss to Anthony Stephens in 1992, although close, should have been the writing on the wall for David. Even though his skills were superior, Stephens, a jr. middleweight title challenger later on, was just too big for David to batter convincingly.
FIGHTING TOO BIG JUST ONE OF DAVIDS PROBLEMS
After another loss at welter to respectable Kenny Gould, again predicated by size, David was getting smacked around like never before. The defensive wizardry that we saw years earlier was gone. Now he was there to be hit! Going nowhere, I knew that the five star prospect Jack Fiske and I had watched seven years earlier was looked at now as nothing more than a tough, but beatable challenger for the welterweight title.
WANGILA, LEAST TALENTED GOLD MEDALLIST EVER?
In 1994, Gonzalez 38-3-1 and only 25 years old, met 1988 Olympic Gold Medallist Robert Wangila, who had been a disappointment as a professional. Heck, Bob Arum once implied that the fighter in the Top Rank gym was not Wangila, but his lesser brother! The fight was a typical Gonzalez beat down, meaning David pounded on Roberts arms, chest, internal organs, and by the eighth Wangila was toast! One round later, Robert Wanguila, for all intents and purposes, was dead! As Robert was carried lifeless from that Aladdin Hotel ring, I wondered what David could be thinking
HITTING DAVID WITH THE $64,000 QUESTION
Whether or not he felt personally responsible for the deaths of three men is the difficult question that I wanted to pose. Waiting for the right spot, I asked David, Do you ever think about three guys dying at your hands? Holding an icepack, Gonzalez was stumped, I never meant to kill anyone.
GODFATHER FISKES NOTION WAS PROPHETIC
After a win over Gerald Reed, Gonzalez would jump another weight class to meet World 154 lb. champ, Terry Norris. The end result was a TKO loss in nine for Gonzalez, who retired professionally after this September 16, 1995 bout at 40-4-1, with 23 KOs. In my memory, never had one so talented come up so short! When I last heard of David, I was told he was fighting in Texas bars for money! Like Fiske said that first day, If he can only keep out of trouble.
Pedro Fernandez
Note: Mr. Fernandez is an award-winning writer, talk show host, TV commentator, former San Francisco Policeman, and four-time Golden Gloves champion. Comments regarding the above can be left below.