Julio Diaz Tickets

Julio Diaz
Julio C?sar Gonz?lez Ibarra, born July 30, 1976, is a Mexican light-heavyweight boxer who held the WBO world title in that weight class. Julio represents the new generation of boxing champions. A descendant of the legendary Diaz boxing family, he is the youngest member of his family to hold a world boxing title

Early Life
Gonzalez was born in Guerrero Negro, Baja California Sur, and still claims Mexico as his native country although he has lived in the United States for several years.

Amateur and Professional Life
He entered the professional boxing ranks in 1997 after a moderately successful amateur career and gradually worked his way through the ranks of the light-heavyweight journeymen. He had won his first 21 fights by the time he got his first chance at a boxing title, the WBC Fecarbox regional belt, on May 5, 2000. He defeated unbeaten fellow Mexican Jesus Ruiz on a ninth round technical knockout in Commerce City, California.Gonzalez followed that victory up with five more wins, including a 12-round unanimous decision over Julian Letterlough on February 2, 2001, that won him two more regional titles--the WBO NABO and the IBA Continental--and propelled him into the No. 1 contender's position in several sanctioning bodies' ratings.As the top competitor, he earned a fight with Roy Jones Jr., the world light heavyweight champion of seven different sanctioning bodies, on July 28, 2001, in Los Angeles. Gonzalez went the distance with Jones, but lost a unanimous decision for his first career setback.

He took seven months off after the loss to Jones before resuming his career and running off seven straight wins without a loss. Most notable in his comeback streak was a 10-round majority decision over former world champion Glencoffe Johnson on January 24, 2003.Gonzalez earned his second shot at a world title on October 18, 2003, when he flew to Hamburg, Germany for a showdown with undefeated Dariusz Michalczewski for the WBO world light-heavyweight championship. Going into the fight, Michalczewski was positioned to tie Rocky Marciano's all-time record of 49 wins and no losses.

In the fight, Gonzalez seemed to take control of the action in the middle rounds, and fought back strongly when Michalczewski, got him in trouble a few times. When the fight was over, Gonzalez got the verdict on a 12-round split decision.Gonzalez lost his title to Zsolt Erdei on January 17, 2004 by unanimous decision.He unsuccessfully challenged Clinton Woods for the IBF light-heavyweight title on September 9, 2005 losing by unanimous decision.

Two years later, he will finally get his rematch with Clinton Woods on September 29, 2007 and this time Gonzalez said he is sure of victory.

Julio's unbelievably smooth and classy style in the ring has earned him the praise of boxing aficionados across the world. He possesses a grace best described as elusive yet powerful.

Julio epitomizes the classic boxer, combined with unbelievable defense, speed and power. His future has truly just begun and is full of much promise. Boxing professionals predict that Julio has the natural talent to move through the weight classes, capturing world title belts to solidify his name in boxing history books.