COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO.) – In his first major international event, bantamweight Frankie Gomez (Lincoln Heights, Calif.) took home gold. Gomez won his final round bout at the 2007 Cadet World Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan to claim his first world championship. He won his fourth straight bout of the tournament with a convincing 35-19 victory over Elvin Aliyev of Azerbaijan to take the title.
Gomez took the lead from the start of the bout, enjoying a strong first round to take a 9-4 advantage after the first. An outstanding second stanza of action pushed Gomez to a convincing 24-11 lead at the end of two. Yet he never took his foot off the gas, adding 11 points in the third round to take the 35-19 final victory.
Gomez’s gold is one of three medals for the United States at the 2007 Cadet World Championships with light flyweight Louie Byrd (Denver, Colo.) and Kavika Aupiu (Las Vegas, Nev.) winning bronze at the event. He is the first U.S. boxer to win gold at the Cadet World Championships since heavyweight Isiah Thomas’ (Detroit, Mich.) victory in 2005.
The growing parity in amateur boxing was evident with athletes from 13 nations competing in final round action and nine different countries walking away with gold medals in Azerbaijan. India, Russia and the Ukraine led the gold medal count with two a piece while the United States, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Cuba and Puerto Rico all claimed one each.
AIBA President Dr. Ching-Kuo Wu praised the event and the level of competition displayed in Baku. “This is the best ever Cadet World Championships ever staged,” Wu said. “The athletes have been of the highest caliber and have come from afar with Australia and Puerto Rico participating. The level of competition has been extremely high. This is the new AIBA, this is the new Boxing, giving athletes the chance to participate to the best of their ability.”
The next AIBA World Championship event will be the AIBA Senior World Championships in Chicago, Ill., October 23-November 3 with over 600 athletes from more than 115 countries scheduled to compete. The U.S. Olympic Team will look to qualify international berths in Chicago.
USA Boxing, as the national governing body for Olympic-style boxing, is the United States’ member organization of the International Amateur Boxing Association (AIBA) and a member of the United States Olympic Committee (USOC).