Gregorio Peralta

Gregorio Manuel Peralta (May 8, 1935–October 3, 2001), better known as Gregorio "Goyo" Peralta, was an Argentine boxer. Peralta enjoyed success as a both a light heavyweight and a heavyweight, one of a select group Latin American Heavyweights to attain world-class status. (John Ruiz has been the only Hispanic to be world Heavyweight champion in boxing history.) Greg Peralta was a popular performer during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s.

Biography

Gregorio Peralta was born in San Juan. He later resided in the area of Rosario, in Santa Fe Province.

On April 5, 1958, he made his professional boxing debut, knocking out a rival (Rene Pereira) who had lost all fourteen of his bouts. Peralta's fourth round knockout of Pereira was at the legendary Luna Park, in Buenos Aires.

Peralta won his first five fights by knockout, then went the ten round distance for the first time on September 6 of that same year, against Jose Angel Manzur, whom he outpointed over ten rounds in Montevideo, Uruguay. His first fight abroad had already been held, when he beat Marcelo Farias by a second round knockout 35 days before, also at Montevideo.

On October 22, he and Manzur had a rematch, with the two boxers drawing (tying) after ten more rounds.

On March 31, 1959, Peralta suffered his first loss as a professional, a ten round decision defeat to then reigning South American light heavyweight champion Luis Ignacio in Sao Paulo, Brazil in a non-title bout. Peralta had one loss and two draws in his next three fights, but then he returned to winning, when he avenged his defeat against Ignacio by knocking him out in three rounds, August 23 in Brazil.

After winning his next five fights, including four in Uruguay, Peralta faced Mauro Mina, in a widely expected light heavyweight bout between two South Americans. On June 15, 1960, Peralta was knocked out by Mina in eight rounds at Lima, Peru.

Peralta then won twelve and drew one of his next thirteen bouts. Among those were a ten round decision in a rubber match with Manzur, and a four round disqualification win over Aurelio Diaz. Peralta was given his first chance at winning a belt when he fought Jose Giorgetti, on August 4, 1962, at Mar del Plata for the Argentine Heavyweight title. He won the national belt by outpointing Giorgetti over twelve rounds, and then won fifteen more bouts in a row, for a total of 24 victories and one draw in twenty-five bouts. The biggest win of his career came during that streak, when he outpointed world light heavyweight champion Willie Pastrano over ten rounds at Miami, Florida on September 20, 1963 in a non-title bout. His first fight with Pastrano marked Peralta's United States debut as a professional boxer.

Peralta's next fight, on November 15 of that year, was also his first bout at New York's Madison Square Garden. He beat future Jose Torres world championship challenger, Wayne Thornton, by a ten round decision there. After two more wins, including another one over Thornton, Peralta was given a shot at Pastrano's world Light-Heavyweight title, on April 10, 1964 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Pastrano retained the championship with a sixth round knockout in a fight that had different views from boxing magazines; while the general consensus is that Pastrano was actually winning the fight when it was stopped, The Ring En Espanol actually claimed twenty years later that Peralta was hitting Pastrano and had him against the ropes when the referee intervened and raised Pastrano's arm as the fight's winner. The truth is a cut opened in the second Thornton fight re-opened during Peralta's challenge of Pastrano and the bout was, to some hastily, to others justifiably, halted.

Peralta went on to win nine of his next ten fights, including a rematch victory over Mauro Mina, outpointed in ten rounds at Buenos Aires on September 19 of '64, before defending his Argentine Heavyweight title for the first time, and losing it, to Oscar Bonavena by a twelve round decision on September 4, 1965 in Buenos Aires.

Peralta then went undefeated over his next 32 bouts, building a record of twenty nine wins and three draws, with seventeen knockouts over that span. Among the highlights of those thirty two bouts were three ninth round disqualifications in a row (over Ron Marsh on March 11, 1968, and two over Felipe Pablo Marich, on April 5 and April 20 of that same year), a ten round decision over Ramon Rocha on August 23, and a draw in a rematch with Bonavena, held on August 8, 1969.

After the Bonavena rematch, he would face George Foreman, in a fight that was nationally televised in the United States, on February 16, 1970, once again at the Madison Square Garden. Although Foreman held an aura as a "knockout artist" at that period, Peralta went ten full rounds with the future two time world Heavyweight champion but lost a unanimous decision to Foreman.

Peralta's next bout came when he beat future world Light Heavyweight title challenger Piero del Papa, by a fifth round knockout on June 6 at Montevideo.

His next bout marked his Europeean debut, when he defeated Herbert Wick, exactly sixteen days after the fight with del Papa, by a second round knockout in Barcelona, Spain. Peralta had three consecutive bouts in Spain, winning each of by knockout.

After two more wins, he faced Foreman again, at Oakland, California, this time with the NABF's vacant regional Heavyweight title on the line. Once again, Peralta fought ten rounds with Foreman, but he was knocked out in the tenth, on May 10, 1971.

Peralta then moved to Spain for a one year. With the exception of a victory over Gerhard Zech on December 3 over at Germany, Peralta fought nine of his next ten bouts in Spain. These included a ten round win over perennial contender Jose Urtain on October 8, a win over Leroy Caldwell by a fourth round knockout on February 2, 1972, and a ten round decision loss to Bob Foster world Light Heavyweight title challenger Ray Anderson on June 9 of that same year.

After the loss to Anderson, Peralta would move again, this time to Germany, and he won his next six bouts by knockout. A loss to Muhammad Ali world title challenger Ron Lyle, however, took place on May 12, 1973 at Denver, Colorado. Peralta lost to Lyle by a ten round decision.

Peralta won his next two bouts by knockout in Germany, and then held Lyle to a ten round draw by in their November 17 rematch, held at Frankfurt, Germany. Peralta retired for good after the rematch with Lyle.

Gregorio Peralta had a record of 98 wins, 9 defeats and 9 draws as a professional boxer, with 60 knockout wins, which places him in the exclusive group of boxers that won fifty or more fights by knockout during their career.

He led a quiet life after retiring, passing away on October 3, 2001.

ee also

*List of Argentines

External links

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