Expert: Lian Shoemake - 10/13/2008

Question
Hi,
I've been following Juan Carlos Gomez for a while now [I think I may have sent you a question a long time ago about him] and it seems that he's finally going to get a shot at a heavyweight title after years in the wilderness. It seems Vitali Klitschko is going to go after Valuev instead of Gomez first.

My question is, how would you see a fight between Gomez and one of the Klitschko's going? Gomez seems to be possibly the only heavyweight out there at the moment with the skills needed to frustrate them. He has fast handspeed, can move around the ring well, has never shown to have a bad chin, despite the awful loss to Diaz in 2004, and is very much a fighter who frustrates opponents.

It can be hard to get many decent opinions of this fellow, as many people still barely know him, or just don't care. Also, I'm assuming he'll be a big underdog against either Klitschko, if and when it happens, so there could be an opportunity for me to make some money on an upset perhaps.

I watched his last fight against Virchis, and although he was fairly impressive, he didn't appear to be in the best shape he could be in, and wasn't throwing as many shots as he would probably need to against Klitschko. Good but uninspiring.

I think I'd take him over either brother if he came in the best physical condition he's ever been in and was prepared to throw a ton of shots.

Answer
Hi Paul,
Thanks for the question.
I think you hit the nail on the head when you said "I think I'd take him over either brother if he came in the best physical condition he's ever been in and was prepared to throw a ton of shots."

To date, I haven't seen the type of conditioning or consistent work rate from Gomez that would make me inclined to pick him against either Klitschko. His speed and tricky southpaw style might make things difficult early against both, but Vladmir has two emphatic victories over the similarly difficult southpaw Chris Byrd, and Vitali was handling Byrd fairly easily before he hurt his shoulder.
At any rate, Gomez is not Byrd, but I think the results against either brother would be similar.
Having said that, I would probably pick Gomez over Alexander Povetkin, Vladimir's next challenger.

Thanks for writing, Paul!

Regards,
Lian