“Lose and retire,” said Michael Gomez Jnr without any sign of flinching.
At a time when many say every fight in boxing is a must-win, Gomez is saying his career will end if he does not beat Jordan Flynn in Manchester on Saturday at the Co-op Live Arena.
Gomez is 21-2 (6 KOs), and if he is to achieve what he wants to – winning a British title – he simply has to get through Flynn.
“I want to get back in title fights and believe I’m good enough to win titles and if I don’t win this fight, them opportunities are probably gone, aren’t they? Realistically, after the last 12 months of last year, my career couldn’t have gone any worse really. So, don’t win this, I don’t see another way back, if I’m being truthfully honest.”
Reminded that there is an apparent shift in the culture where a loss is not the be-all and end-all, Gomez is not interested in that. He also has no interest in becoming a name for up-and-comers to target on the way through.
“Them sort of fights, you just take a massive risk, no reward and being on that stage where you’re borderline a journeyman and you’re taking fights, if you don’t win, it’s OK, and that’s not my mentality,” he added. “I’m the level that this fight's at, 12 months ago before I’d won the English title, I’d vacated, I’d been past this level. I’m back at this level because of a bad performance and then a bad 13 months obviously with injury. The only reason this fight's come back around is because of that. And I believe I'm more than good enough to get straight back in there at this level, win and comfortably move on.”
Gomez has been struggling with hand injuries that had been bothering him for some time.
He had been due to fight last June, but damaged the hand in sparring and the fight was pulled. He then had surgery and said that period was the worst he’d experienced.
“Yeah, because I’ve never avoided a fight, never done anything, I’d fight anyone,” he said.
“You can see now after 13 months out, I’m coming back into a 50-50 fight. Not many people do that. I can sell enough tickets to have a few six-rounders. I could easily have come back, had a six-rounder, an eight-rounder and then jumped right to it. So it was frustrating, but things happen, don’t they? There’s nothing you can do sometimes.”
Gomez has not boxed since his February 2025 stoppage defeat to Reece Bellotti. His only fight before that in the previous two years was a stoppage victory over Kane Baker.
Of course, Gomez had been due to face Bellotti before the eventual date, but withdrew hours before the fight.
But it has been a frustrating spell for the Manchester man.
“You just started thinking, well, what’s the point?” he said. “Let’s say last 12 months. I obviously had a fight, didn’t I? It wasn’t just a bad performance. Not even taking anything away from the opponent, it doesn't matter why the performance was so bad, but it was a career-worst performance and it was down to myself. Then I was back in the gym and then I was meant to fight in June and my hand just obliterated. It’s boxing, injuries like that happen. So then for nine months, I had surgery in November so then I ticked over, I just couldn't fight because, obviously, I was waiting for surgery. I had to use just my left hand. And then I had surgery on November the 8th or 9th, I think it was. And then I came out of my cast in the middle of January and I’ve been cracking on since.”
Gomez is 31 now. Time is no longer on his side, but he’s come through at a time when fighters can be subject to ridicule on social media. Is there a link to that and boxers suffering with poor mental health?
“I don’t pay attention,” Gomez sighed. “I used to. Social media is bad; someone needs to make [it law] where people have to use their real name. These accounts where people are called 1279877621 and they just slander people, it’s just annoying, because you want to just punch their lights out and you don’t actually know who it is. I’ll be honest, any account that adds me with random numbers gets blocked because if you come in to just give me shit and you want to be an internet little loon, add me on a real account and do it. If it’s an account that adds random numbers, don't add posts and just follow a million people just to comment, just idiots. If you’re going to be a troll and you want to give people grief and you’ve never done this job before, at least be a man and do it on your own account. If not, don’t bother. If it [boxing] was easy, mate, everyone would do it. That’s what they say, isn't it? If it was easy, everyone would do it. You get them idiots who never box. They don't actually know anyone and you’re not even man enough to use your own name or ever put a picture of yourself up.
“Don’t hide behind a keyboard. A fake account with a stupid number or name that you’ve just made up, to give someone grief, because in my eyes, it’s embarrassing. I used to proper get deep into it, and I used to be sitting there till three, four in the morning arguing with these idiots. But then now, if you add me with a number in your name and you’ve not got a picture, you just get blocked. Bye. See you.”
Gomez also has thicker skin now, too, but he will still get into a back and forth when he’s bored in camp.
But his focus is on winning on Saturday. For Gomez, there is no alternative.
He’s only met Flynn, 13-1-1 (2 KOs), twice. Once at a press conference where they sat next to one another and once backstage at a fight. Gomez has seen him box, but he’s not done any homework. They were due to fight before when Gomez wound up boxing Kane Baker – whom Flynn had twice fought – instead.
“I know I’m not going to lose this fight,” Gomez said. “You asked me a question of how serious this is for me? I do believe if I don’t win this fight, I don’t know where I go from there. “Do I go back to small halls and try and spend 12, 18 months trying to get myself back? Not really. These big nights, they put a fire in the belly. These moments where it’s all on the line. This is what makes me the best me.”
