By Mitch Abramson
The fast-rising prospect Eddie Gomez didn’t get a chance to spar with Victor Ortiz, and he’s not fighting on the undercard of Ortiz vs. Floyd Mayweather on Saturday in Las Vegas, as was apparently the original plan. But the Bronx product and high school senior will most likely see action again on Oct. 14 as the co-main event on a Solo Boxeo Tecate card in Puerto Rico against a yet to be determined opponent, according to his legal adviser, Gabriel Penagaricano.
The show is a co-promotion between Golden Boy Promotions, which promotes Gomez, and Miguel Cotto Promotions, of which Penagaricano is also an adviser.
Gomez, a junior middleweight, improved to 6-0 with five knockouts on Aug. 19 with a first-round destruction of Marcus Hall in the Bronx, the first time that Gomez had fought at home. Penagaricano anticipates Gomez fighting twice, perhaps even three times more before the year is up and then progressing to eight-rounders.
As for sparring with Ortiz, the 19-year-old Gomez was under the impression he was going to serve as a sparring partner to help him prepare for Mayweather Jr. But that apparently changed after comments Gomez made to Boxingscene.com, saying that he would hurt Ortiz in sparring if he got the opportunity. Gomez is an extremely heavy-handed fighter, and the choice to use him as a sparring partner for Ortiz seemed a bit unusual in the first place.
“It didn’t happen,” Penagaricano said of the chance to spar with Ortiz. “He’s still very young, and I’m sure other opportunities will arrive for him to spar with experienced fighters.”
Mitch Abramson covers boxing for the New York Daily News and BoxingScene.com.