Alfonso Gomez on The Fight With Jose Luis Castillo

By Ryan Burton

 

Former Contender series star Alfonso Gomez talks to BoxingScene.com about his upcoming welterweight bout with future Hall of Famer Jose Luis Castillo on the Manny Pacquiao vs. Joshua Clottey undercard on March 13.  Gomez compares the fight to when he fought the late Arturo Gatti (RIP). Gomez also talks about his fight with Jesus Soto Karass which was marred with headbutts and low blows but he managed to come out with a technical decision victory.

 

BoxingScene.com:  How is training going for your upcoming fight with Jose Luis Castillo?

 

Alfonso Gomez:  Everything is perfect.  We are up here in Oxnard, California again.  My dad (his trainer) and I.  We are sparring with a few kids from the around the area including Brandon Rios who just won a title.  We are really excited.  Everything is going as planned.  Our weight is perfect and our conditioning is perfect so everything is looking good.

 

BoxingScene.com:  How did this fight with Castillo come about?

 

Alfonso Gomez:  Well I don't know all the details but my manager Gary Gittleson called me one day and said that the Castillo people reached out to him to make this fight and I accepted.

 

BoxingScene.com:  Castillo is obviously a legend in the sport.  Give us your thoughts on how it feels to be fighting him.

 

Alfonso Gomez:  I am probably going to feel the same way I felt when I fought Arturo Gatti. It felt unbelievable to be in front of him but I had to do my job then and I have to do my job now so I am training hard for it. 

 

BoxingScene.com:  What is the key to coming out with the victory?

 

Alfonso Gomez:  Well we know that it doesn't matter what age you are, if you have power you carry it with you.  We know he has the power and he has been knocking out opponents left and right since he was at what, 130 pounds till now where he is at welterweight and even above that.  We are going to be careful with his power.  We know he keeps coming and coming.  Maybe the most dangerous aspect of this fight is that he knows this is his last chance to accomplish something even greater in boxing so I know he is going to come in and fight like he have nothing to lose.  He will give it his all.  I have to be ready for that.

 

BoxingScene.com:  What do you think a win over Castillo does for your career?

 

Alfonso Gomez:  It will be another good name on my record.  Most importantly I get to defend my WBC Continental title and I will be another step closer to another world title shot.  It is definitely an important fight for me.

 

BoxingScene.com:  Last time you fought you won a fight that wasn't very asthetically pleasing via technical decision over Jesus Soto Karass.  Can you give us your thoughts on that fight?

 

Alfonso Gomez:  Well I have been cut in about nine of my fights.  I don't know if its because of me or them.  It probably is me since I am the one who keeps getting them (laughing) but it definitely was a hard fight with all the low blows and everything else.  Being it was on the undercard of one of the biggest fights of the year (Pacquiao versus Cotto) I knew I had a lot of eyes on me that day.  It was my second title fight.  It was a very important fight and I was able to keep my composure and everything went as planned.  I did my boxing which I knew I needed to do.  I knew Soto Karass was a very difficult fighter.  He kept pressuring and it seemed he kept getting stronger and stronger as the rounds went by.  My boxing gave me the victory pretty much. 

 

BoxingScene.com:  What can you take for that fight to help you with the Castillo fight?

 

Alfonso Gomez:  We know that Castillo and Soto Karass are kind of similar fighters.  Even though I am Mexican like they are I try not to imitate their style which is the typical Mexican style, coming straight forward and taking punches.  I used to do that a lot but I want to prolong my career so now I am trying to fight smarter and move my head.  We know that Castillo is shorter than me so we are going to try to take advantage of all the advantages I have.  We are going to develop a plan to ensure that we take advantage of everything we can. 

 

BoxingScene.com:  Do you have a message for the fans?

 

Alfonso Gomez:  I want to let them know as always that I thank them for their support.  We are training very hard for this fight.  I invite all the fans to follow me on youtube and twitter and facebook.  They can hit me up there and I will gladly respond.  I can be found at twitter.com/alfonsosgomez facebook.com/alfonsosgomez and myspace.com/alfonsosgomez.  I try to be as active as I can even when I am training.