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Michael Gomez (born Michael Armstrong on 21 June 1977), also known as "The Irish Mexican" or "The Predator", is a former professional boxer. He was born to an Irish Traveller family in Longford, County Longford, Ireland, spending his early years in Dublin before moving to London and later Manchester, England, with his family at the age of nine. Gomez finished his career fighting in the lightweight division; however, he is more notable for his fights in the featherweight and super featherweight divisions.〔(【引用サイトリンク】publisher=BoxRec )〕 During his career he has amassed a number of championship title belts: the IBF Inter-Continental featherweight title; and the British, WBO Inter-Continental, WBA Inter-Continental and WBU super featherweight titles.〔 Gomez, who has been compared to Johnny Tapia, has lived a turbulent life and has often been involved in controversial fights. In Gomez's initial matches he suffered a number of losses to journeyman opposition but then went on a run of victories which stretched for almost four years.〔 Of his 17 fights between February 2001 and March 2008, 16 ended in knockouts.〔〔 Concerns arose about his drinking and failure to adhere to his diet and training regimes after a 2001 loss to Laszlo Bognar. Gomez appeared to be "back on track"〔 in 2003, with his high-profile fight against Edinburgh-based fighter, ''"Amazing"'' Alex Arthur for the British and WBA Inter-Continental super featherweight titles, which Gomez won by delivering a knockout blow to Arthur in the fifth round.〔〔 In 2006, Gomez suffered a controversial loss to Peter McDonagh when, in the middle of a round, he dropped his guard and walked out of the ring, later saying he had retired from boxing.〔 〕 He returned to the ring after a 15-month interval. On 21 June 2008, Gomez lost what was seen as possibly his last bout—a last chance saloon opportunity to resurrect his career against rising star and Olympic silver medallist Amir Khan. The fight ended with Gomez's suffering a TKO when the referee stopped the fight in the fifth round. Gomez took the surname Gomez after his childhood hero Wilfredo Gomez.〔http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-60286002.html〕 ==Background== Michael Armstrong was born into an Irish traveller family in Longford, Ireland. His mother went into labour with him while driving, so his partially sighted father took over the wheel but crashed the car into a lamp post on the way to the hospital; Michael was delivered in the back seat. The Armstrong family moved to Ballymun, Dublin, and, when Michael was age nine, to Manchester, England.〔 〕 Following the family's move to England, Armstrong's father's eyesight failed further due to retinitis pigmentosa. By that time, there were ten children in the Armstrong family. After his younger sister, Louise, died from sudden infant death syndrome, his mother left the family to live with another woman.〔〔 Armstrong subsequently spent much of his youth in various children's homes, and was a serial truant from school. His mother had taught him to shoplift as a child, and he was involved in petty crime throughout his youth in Manchester.〔 At nine years old, he began training at Brian Hughes' Collyhurst and Moston Boys' Club. He also played football for a local North Manchester team until the club received so many fines for Armstrong's fighting on the pitch that they were unable to pay them. At this point, he stopped playing football to concentrate on his training in the ring.〔〔 During his time in the children's home Armstrong met Alison, who has remained his companion (and later his wife) throughout his professional career; they were parents by the time Armstrong was 17.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Michael Gomez」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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