Gregorio Peralta
Encyclopedia
Gregorio Manuel Peralta (May 8, 1935–October 3, 2001), better known as Gregorio "Goyo" Peralta, was a top Argentine
boxer
. Peralta enjoyed success as a both a light heavyweight and a heavyweight, one of a select group Latin American Heavyweight
s 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.
. 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 São 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.
Beats Pastrano
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.
Pastrano - light heavywieght title
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, Ring En Español
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.
Bonavena takes Argentine title
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.
Foreman
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. But Peralta won the crowds admiration for a gutsy good performance. He used his boxing skill and mobility to show Foreman was open to fast well placed counters and tended to somewhat unravel in the later part of matches. It's thought Ali studied this among other Foreman matches in his preparation the legendary 'Rumble in the Jungle' victory.
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 European 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.
Foreman rematch
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. His two Foreman matches are fine achievements.
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.
Ron Lyle twice
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.
External links
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
boxer
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
. Peralta enjoyed success as a both a light heavyweight and a heavyweight, one of a select group Latin American Heavyweight
Heavyweight
Heavyweight is a division, or weight class, in boxing. Fighters who weigh over 200 pounds are considered heavyweights by the major professional boxing organizations: the International Boxing Federation, the World Boxing Association, the World Boxing Council, and the World Boxing...
s to attain world-class status. (John Ruiz
John Ruiz
John "The Quietman" Ruiz , is a former American professional boxer. Ruiz is the first Latino heavyweight champion and former two-time WBA heavyweight champion. After a professional career spanning over 18 years, Ruiz officially announced his retirement from the sport at a press conference on April...
has been the only Hispanic
Hispanic
Hispanic is a term that originally denoted a relationship to Hispania, which is to say the Iberian Peninsula: Andorra, Gibraltar, Portugal and Spain. During the Modern Era, Hispanic sometimes takes on a more limited meaning, particularly in the United States, where the term means a person of ...
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 JuanSan Juan, Argentina
San Juan is the capital city of the Argentine province of San Juan in the Cuyo region, located in the Tulúm Valley, west of the San Juan River, at above mean sea level, with a population of around 112,000 as per the ....
. He later resided in the area of Rosario
Rosario
Rosario is the largest city in the province of Santa Fe, Argentina. It is located northwest of Buenos Aires, on the western shore of the Paraná River and has 1,159,004 residents as of the ....
, in Santa Fe Province
Santa Fe Province
The Invincible Province of Santa Fe, in Spanish Provincia Invencible de Santa Fe , is a province of Argentina, located in the center-east of the country. Neighboring provinces are from the north clockwise Chaco , Corrientes, Entre Ríos, Buenos Aires, Córdoba, and Santiago del Estero...
.
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
Luna Park, Buenos Aires
For any of the amusement parks of the same name, see Luna Park; for any other use of the term, see Luna Park Luna Park is an 8,000-seat arena, located on the corner of Corrientes and Bouchard Avenues, in the barrio of San Nicolás, east Buenos Aires city and near Puerto Madero...
, in Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
.
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 São 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
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
.
After winning his next five fights, including four in Uruguay
Uruguay
Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...
, Peralta faced Mauro Mina
Mauro Mina
Mauro Mina Baylón was a Peruvian Light Heavyweight boxer known as the "Bombardero de Chincha", remembered as the best Peruvian boxer of the twentieth century....
, 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
Mar del Plata
Mar del Plata is an Argentine city located on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, south of Buenos Aires. Mar del Plata is the second largest city of Buenos Aires Province. The name "Mar del Plata" had apparently the sense of "sea of the Río de la Plata region" or "adjoining sea to the Río de la 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.
Beats Pastrano
The biggest win of his career came during that streak, when he outpointed world light heavyweight champion Willie Pastrano
Willie Pastrano
Wilfred Raleigh Pastrano was a light heavyweight boxer who held the world crown from 1963 until 1965.-Early life:...
over ten rounds at Miami, Florida
Miami, Florida
Miami is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States with a population of 2,500,625...
on September 20, 1963 in a non-title bout. His first fight with Pastrano marked Peralta's United States debut as a professional boxer.
Pastrano - light heavywieght title
Peralta's next fight, on November 15 of that year, was also his first bout at New York's Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden, often abbreviated as MSG and known colloquially as The Garden, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the New York City borough of Manhattan and located at 8th Avenue, between 31st and 33rd Streets, situated on top of Pennsylvania Station.Opened on February 11, 1968, it is the...
. 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
New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...
. 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, Ring En Español
Ring En Español
The Ring En Español was a Spanish version of boxing publication The Ring magazine. Ring En Español was published from 1977 to 1985. Originally published from Caracas, it moved in 1981 to Miami, to Editorial America , the same editorial house that oversaw the production of Cosmopolitans Spanish...
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.
Bonavena takes Argentine title
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
Oscar Bonavena
Oscar Natalio "Ringo" Bonavena was a heavyweight professional boxer with a career record of 58 wins, 9 losses and 1 draw. A rugged, wild-swinging puncher, he was nicknamed "Ringo" because of his Beatles haircut, and enjoyed professional success in both Argentina and the United States...
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.
Foreman
After the Bonavena rematch, he would face George Foreman
George Foreman
George Edward Foreman is an American two-time former World Heavyweight Boxing Champion, Olympic gold medalist, ordained Baptist minister, author and successful entrepreneur...
, in a fight that was nationally televised
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
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. But Peralta won the crowds admiration for a gutsy good performance. He used his boxing skill and mobility to show Foreman was open to fast well placed counters and tended to somewhat unravel in the later part of matches. It's thought Ali studied this among other Foreman matches in his preparation the legendary 'Rumble in the Jungle' victory.
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 European 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.
Foreman rematch
After two more wins, he faced Foreman again, at Oakland, California
Oakland, California
Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...
, 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. His two Foreman matches are fine achievements.
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
Ray Anderson (boxer)
Ray Anderson was a boxer in the light heavyweight division who fought from 1965 to 1977. Anderson currently lives in Akron, Ohio...
on June 9 of that same year.
Ron Lyle twice
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
Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali is an American former professional boxer, philanthropist and social activist...
world title challenger Ron Lyle
Ron Lyle
Ron Lyle was an American professional boxer in the heavyweight division. He is considered to have been one of the best contenders of his era. He was a crowd-pleasing power puncher.-Early life:...
, however, took place on May 12, 1973 at Denver, Colorado
Denver, Colorado
The City and County of Denver is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Denver is a consolidated city-county, located in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains...
. 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
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...
, 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.
External links