Joan Guzmán

Infobox Boxer
name=Joan Guzmán


realname=Juan Guzmán
nickname=El Pequeño Tyson (Little Tyson)
The Sycuan Warrior
weight=Super featherweight
height=5 ft. 7 in. (170 cm.)
nationality=Flagicon|DOM Dominican
birth_date=Birth date and age|1976|5|1|mf=y
birth_place=Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
style=Orthodox
total=28
wins=28
losses=0
draws=0
no contests=0
KO=17|

Joan Guzmán (born May 1, 1976) is a Dominican professional boxer who was the WBO's super featherweight champion. His nicknames are "The Little Tyson" and "The Sycuan Warrior." [ [http://www.fightnewsextra.com/ac/wolfheimer7 Guzman Outlasts Soto!] ] Former boxer Floyd Mayweather Sr. is Guzmán's trainer.

Beginnings

Having started boxing at eight, Guzman won 310 out of 320 bouts as an amateur boxer. Included in these victories was a gold medal winning bout at the 1995 Pan American Games. He also competed in the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia where he lost to Omar Andrés Narváez.

Guzmán began his professional boxing career in the United States. His debut fight, on September 23, 1997, was held in Phoenix, Arizona. There, he knocked out Juan Miguel Rivera in two rounds. After another second round knockout win (this time at the Madison Square Garden in New York City), he returned to the Dominican Republic.

He took off two years from boxing, then he came back for his first fight in his homeland. On March 11, 1999, he outpointed Orlando Mateo over eight rounds at Santo Domingo. He fought six more times before being given a title try for the Dominican featherweight title.

During his two year lay-off, he dropped off in weight, from the featherweight division to the super bantamweight division.

On October 25, 1999, he knocked out Francisco de Leon in round eleven to win the national title. He retained the title once, with a two round knockout of Santiago Matos. He later knocked out Hector Julio Avila in the second round on August 9, 2001, for the vacant NABO regional super bantamweight title.

Another win was especially significant, since it was for the WBO's Latino title, as well as for the WBO's vacant intercontinental title and for Guzman's NABO title. Guzman added those two new regional championships and retained the one he already owned, by beating Edel Ruiz by decision, in a fight held in Tacoma, Washington on September 29 2001.

World championships

Guzmán became ranked number one in the super bantamweight division of the WBO. The WBO's world super bantamweight champion, Agapito Sanchez, travelled to Cardiff, Wales, to defend his title against Guzmán, but was diagnosed with a detached retina during a required medical check-up days before the fight and was then removed of the title. Sánchez temporarily retired from boxing and Guzmán found himself fighting Fabio Oliva for the vacant WBO's world super bantamweight title on August 17, 2002. Guzmán won the championship with a 3rd round knockout win. Sánchez returned to boxing and at last fought Guzmán on February 26, 2004 in San Diego, California. Guzmán retained the title, knocking out the former world champion in seven rounds. He later defended that title against Fernando Beltran by unanimous decision on April 22, 2005. After that win, Guzmán moved to the super featherweight division.

At the weigh-in before his scheduled fight for the WBO super featherweight title on September 16, 2006, the title holder, Jorge Rodrigo Barrios, was overweight was eventually stripped of the WBO super featherweight title. Guzman then won the fight and the title by split decision. Guzman then defended his new title with wins over Antonio Davis on December 18, 2006 and Humberto Soto on November 17, 2007 both by unanimous decision.

Move to lightweight

In May 2008, Guzman elected to vacate his WBO super featherweight title in order to continue his career in the lightweight division. [ [http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/boxing/news/story?id=3395957 ESPN - Guzman gives up junior lightweight belt - Boxing ] ] He was supposed to fight for Nate Campbell's unified WBA super, WBO and IBF titles, on September 13, 2008. Disappointingly, he came in 3½ pounds over the 135 lb. limit. [cite web
url=http://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&id=15879
title=Campbell-Guzman: Joan is 3.5-Pounds Over, No Titles
publisher=BoxingScene.com
date=September 12, 2008
accessdate=2008-09-13] Thus, the fight was cancelled and Guzman was rushed to a hospital after experiencing dehydration and coughing blood. [cite web
url=http://www.fighthype.com/pages/content3421.html
title=CAMPBELL VS. GUZMAN OFF!
publisher=FIGHTHYPE
date=September 13, 2008
accessdate=2008-09-13] A dismayed Campbell who went through such trouble to fight him, branded Guzman's pull-out as an unprofessional gesture. [cite web
url=http://www.eastsideboxing.com/news.php?p=17228&more=1
title=Statement from Nate Campbell
publisher=EastsideBoxing.com
accessdate=2008-09-22] With regards to his failure, Guzman issued an apology to his fans, people surrouding the scheduled bout, and to Campbell in particular. [cite web
url=http://www.eastsideboxing.com/news.php?p=17244&more=1
title=Joan Guzman personal statement regarding his canceled fight against Nate Campbell
publisher=Eastsideboxing.com
accessdate=2008-09-22]

See also

* List of current world boxing champions

References

External links

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