Joel Casamayor

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Joel Casamayor
Statistics
Real name	Joel Casamayor Johnson
Nickname	El Cepillo
Weight	Lightweight
Nationality	Cuban
Birth date	July 12, 1971
Birth place	Guantanamo, Cuba
Style	Southpaw
Boxing record
Total fights	38
Wins	31
Wins by KO	21
Losses	3
Draws	1
No contests	0

Olympic medal record
Men's Boxing
Gold	1992 Barcelona	Bantamweight

Joel "El Cepillo" Casamayor Johnson (born July 12, 1971 in Guantanamo) is a Cuban boxer, who turned pro in 1992 after he had won an Olympic gold medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. The nickname "El Cepillo", literally translated to "the hairbrush", comes from his uppercut, which rakes his opponents across the face.

Casamayor is a two time champion, and a former WBC Lightweight champion.

[edit] Amateur career

• 1989 – Gold medal (Bantamweight) at the Junior World Championships
• 1992 – Gold medal (Bantamweight) at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain
  • Defeated Venkatesan Devarajan (India) points
  • Defeated Riadh Klaai (Tunisia) points
  • Defeated Roberto Jalnaiz (Philippines) KO 1
  • Defeated Mohammed Achik (Morocco) TKO 1
  • Defeated Wayne McCullough (Ireland) points
• 1993 – Silver medal (Bantamweight) at the 1993 World Amateur Boxing Championships in Tampere, Finland
  • Defeated Agathangelos Tsiripidis (Greece) TKO 3
  • Defeated Dirk Krueger (Germany) points
  • Defeated Arthur Mikaelian (Armenia) points
  • Defeated Vladislav Antonov (Russia) points
  • Lost to Alexander Hristov (Bulgaria) points
• 1994 – Bronze medal (Featherweight) at the World Cup in Bangkok, Thailand
  • Defeated Brian Carr (Scotland) points
  • Defeated Nourredine Medjihoud (Algeria) points
  • Defeated Cristian Rodriguez (Argentina) points
  • Lost to Falk Huste (Germany) points
• 1994 – Silver Medal (Featherweight) at the Goodwill Games in St. Petersburg, Russia
  • Defeated Kai Kandelin (Finland) TKO 1
  • Defeated Claude Chinon (France) points
  • Lost to Ramazi Paliani (Russia) points
• 1995 – Competed (Featherweight) at the 1995 World Amateur Boxing Championships in Berlin, Germany
  • Lost to Raimkul Malachbekov (Russia) points

[edit] Professional career

He won the NABF Super Featheweight title in 1999. Later that year, he won the WBA Super Featherweight title. In 2002, he lost that title in a unification bout with WBO champion Acelino Freitas. In 2004, Diego Corrales, whom Casamayor stopped in 2003, defeated him for the vacant WBO Super Featherweight title. Casamayor failed to take the WBC Lightweight title from José Luis Castillo later that year. After the loss to Castillo Casamayor's career appeared to be in a downward spiral and he was set up with rising prospect Almazbek Raiymkulov in June of 2005. In a spirited battle the bout ended in a draw, with many believing that Casamayor's best days were behind him. After two bouts against little known opposition, in October of 2006, Casamayor yet again took on the popular Diego Corrales, and defeated him by split decision, winning the WBC Lightweight title.

Casamayor is a unionized boxer, a member of the Joint Association of Boxers.

Preceded by Jong-Kwon Baek

WBA Super Featherweight Champion 21 May 2000–12 Jan 2002

Succeeded by Acelino Freitas

Preceded by Diego Corrales

WBC Lightweight Champion 8 October 2006–Current

Succeeded by David Díaz

[edit] External links

• Boxing Record
• Article about the Joel Casamayor-Diego Corrales rivalry
• On Casamayor's nickname

v • d • e Olympic Boxing Champions (Bantamweight)

1904: Oliver Kirk (USA) • 1908: Henry Thomas (GBR) • 1920: Clarence Walker (RSA) • 1924: William Smith (RSA) • 1928: Vittorio Tamagnini (ITA) • 1932: Horace Gwynne (CAN) • 1936: Ulderico Sergo (ITA) • 1948: Tibor Csík (HUN) • 1952: Pentti Hämäläinen (FIN) • 1956: Wolfgang Behrendt (GER) • 1960: Oleg Grigoryev (URS) • 1964: Takao Sakurai (JPN) • 1968: Valerian Sokolov (URS) • 1972: Orlando Martínez (CUB) • 1976: Gu Yong-Ju (PRK) • 1980: Juan Hernández (CUB) • 1984: Maurizio Stecca (ITA) • 1988: Kennedy McKinney (USA) • 1992: Joel Casamayor (CUB) • 1996: István Kovács (HUN) • 2000: Guillermo Rigondeaux (CUB) • 2004: Guillermo Rigondeaux (CUB)