Gregorio Peralta

Gregorio Manuel Peralta (May 8, 1935 – October 3, 2001), better known as Gregorio "Goyo" Peralta, was a top Argentine boxer. Peralta enjoyed success as both a light heavyweight and a heavyweight, one of a select group Latin American Heavyweights to attain world-class status. (John Ruiz has been the only Hispanic to be world Heavyweight champion in boxing history.) Greg Peralta was a popular performer during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s.

Biography

Gregorio Peralta was born in San Juan. He later resided in the area of Rosario, in Santa Fe Province.

On April 5, 1958, he made his professional boxing debut, knocking out a rival (Rene Pereira) who had lost all fourteen of his bouts. Peralta's fourth round knockout of Pereira was at the legendary Luna Park, in Buenos Aires.

Peralta won his first five fights by knockout, then went the ten round distance for the first time on September 6 of that same year, against Jose Angel Manzur, whom he outpointed over ten rounds in Montevideo, Uruguay. His first fight abroad had already been held, when he beat Marcelo Farias by a second round knockout 35 days before, also at Montevideo.

On October 22, he and Manzur had a rematch, with the two boxers drawing (tying) after ten more rounds.

On March 31, 1959, Peralta suffered his first loss as a professional, a ten round decision defeat to then reigning South American light heavyweight champion Luis Ignacio in São Paulo, Brazil in a non-title bout. Peralta had one loss and two draws in his next three fights, but then he returned to winning, when he avenged his defeat against Ignacio by knocking him out in three rounds, August 23 in Brazil.

After winning his next five fights, including four in Uruguay, Peralta faced Mauro Mina, in a widely expected light heavyweight bout between two South Americans. On June 15, 1960, Peralta was knocked out by Mina in eight rounds at Lima, Peru.

Peralta then won twelve and drew one of his next thirteen bouts. Among those were a ten round decision in a rubber match with Manzur, and a four round disqualification win over Aurelio Diaz. Peralta was given his first chance at winning a belt when he fought Jose Giorgetti, on August 4, 1962, at Mar del Plata for the Argentine Heavyweight title. He won the national belt by outpointing Giorgetti over twelve rounds, and then won fifteen more bouts in a row, for a total of 24 victories and one draw in twenty-five bouts.

Beats Pastrano

The biggest win of his career came during that streak, when he outpointed world light heavyweight champion Willie Pastrano over ten rounds at Miami, Florida on September 20, 1963 in a non-title bout. His first fight with Pastrano marked Peralta's United States debut as a professional boxer.

Pastrano – light heavyweight title

Peralta's next fight, on November 15 of that year, was also his first bout at New York's Madison Square Garden. He beat future José Torres world championship challenger, Wayne Thornton, by a ten round decision there. After two more wins, including another one over Thornton, Peralta was given a shot at Pastrano's world Light-Heavyweight title, on April 10, 1964 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Pastrano retained the championship with a sixth round knockout in a fight that had different views from boxing magazines; while the general consensus is that Pastrano was actually winning the fight when it was stopped, Ring En Español actually claimed twenty years later that Peralta was hitting Pastrano and had him against the ropes when the referee intervened and raised Pastrano's arm as the fight's winner. The truth is a cut opened in the second Thornton fight re-opened during Peralta's challenge of Pastrano and the bout was, to some hastily, to others justifiably, halted.

Bonavena takes Argentine title

Peralta went on to win nine of his next ten fights, including a rematch victory over Mauro Mina, outpointed in ten rounds at Buenos Aires on September 19 of '64, before defending his Argentine Heavyweight title for the first time, and losing it, to Oscar Bonavena by a twelve round decision on September 4, 1965 in Buenos Aires. They'd rematch four years later.

Peralta then went undefeated over his next 32 bouts, building a record of twenty nine wins and three draws, with seventeen knockouts over that span. Among the highlights of those thirty two bouts were three ninth round disqualifications in a row (over Ron Marsh on March 11, 1968, and two over Felipe Pablo Marich, on April 5 and April 20 of that same year), a ten round decision over Ramon Rocha on August 23, and a draw in a non-title rematch with Bonavena, held on August 8, 1969.

Foreman

After the Bonavena rematch, he would face George Foreman, in a fight that was nationally televised in the United States, on February 16, 1970, once again at the Madison Square Garden. His now fighting weight being around 200 lbs, Peralta had left the light-heavyweight scene way back.^[1] Foreman was the rising ex-Olympic star and Peralta then ranked 9th world contender was predicted to be George's biggest test to date. Foreman held an aura as an awesome knockout artist but Peralta doggedly went ten full rounds with the future two time world Heavyweight champion. He lost a unanimous decision to Foreman. But Peralta won the crowds admiration for a gutsy good performance. He used his boxing skill and mobility to show Foreman was open to fast well placed counters and tended to somewhat unravel in the later part of matches. It's thought Ali studied this among other Foreman matches in his preparation the legendary 'Rumble in the Jungle' victory.

Peralta's next bout came when he beat future world Light Heavyweight title challenger Piero del Papa, by a fifth round knockout on June 6 at Montevideo.

His next bout marked his European debut, when he defeated Herbert Wick, exactly sixteen days after the fight with del Papa, by a second round knockout in Barcelona, Spain. Peralta had three consecutive bouts in Spain, winning each of by knockout.

Foreman rematch

After two more wins, he faced Foreman again, at Oakland, California, this time with the NABF's vacant regional Heavyweight title on the line. Once again, Peralta fought ten rounds with Foreman, but he was knocked out in the tenth, on May 10, 1971. His two Foreman matches are fine achievements.

Peralta then moved to Spain for a one year. With the exception of a victory over Gerhard Zech on December 3 over at Germany, Peralta fought nine of his next ten bouts in Spain. These included a ten round win over perennial contender Jose Urtain on October 8, a win over Leroy Caldwell by a fourth round knockout on February 2, 1972, and a ten round decision loss to Bob Foster world Light Heavyweight title challenger Ray Anderson on June 9 of that same year.

Ron Lyle twice

After the loss to Anderson, Peralta would move again, this time to Germany, and he won his next six bouts by knockout. A loss to top world title contender Ron Lyle, however, took place on May 12, 1973 at Denver, Colorado. Peralta lost to Lyle by a ten round decision.

Peralta won his next two bouts by knockout in Germany, and then in a rematch held Lyle to a ten round draw in Frankfurt, Germany. Peralta aged 38 years retired for good after the match.

Gregorio Peralta had an admirable record. It contained 98 wins, 9 defeats and 9 draws as a professional boxer, with 60 knockout wins, which places him in the exclusive group of boxers that won fifty or more fights by knockout during their career.

He led a quiet life after retiring, dying on October 3, 2001.

Professional boxing record

98 Wins (60 knockouts), 9 Losses (3 knockouts), 9 Draws[2]
Res.	Record	Opponent	Type	Round Time	Date	Location	Notes
Draw	98–9–9	Ron Lyle	PTS	10	1973–11–17	Frankfurt, Hesse
Win	98–9–8	Johnny Griffin	KO	5 (10)	1973–10–26	Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia
Win	97–9–8	Billy Aird	TKO	4 (10)	1973–09–21	Hamburg
Loss	96–9–8	Ron Lyle	PTS	10	1973–05–12	Denver Coliseum, Denver, Colorado
Win	96–8–8	Ba Sounkalo	TKO	10 (10)	1973–04–06	Hamburg
Win	95–8–8	Ronnie Wright	KO	6 (10)	1973–02–16	Sporthalle, Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia
Win	94–8–8	Horst Benedens	KO	3 (10)	1972–12–08	Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia
Win	93–8–8	Arno Prick	KO	3 (10)	1972–11–24	Hamburg
Win	92–8–8	Conny Venselek	TKO	4 (10)	1972–10–13	Hamburg
Win	91–8–8	Bill Drover	TKO	6 (10)	1972–09–15	Barcelona, Catalonia
Loss	90–8–8	Ray Anderson	PTS	10	1972–06–09	Madrid, Community of Madrid
Win	90–7–8	Willie Johnson	KO	2 (10)	1972–03–18	Valencia, Valencian Community
Win	89–7–8	Leroy Caldwell	KO	4 (10)	1972–03–03	Madrid, Community of Madrid
Win	88–7–8	Vernon McIntosh	TKO	8 (10)	1972–02–02	Bilbao, Basque Country
Win	87–7–8	Rocky Campbell	TKO	3 (10)	1971–12–07	Madrid, Community of Madrid
Win	86–7–8	Gerhard Zech	KO	8 (10)	1971–12–03	Frankfurt, Hesse
Win	85–7–8	José Manuel Urtain	TKO	8 (10) 2:15	1971–10–08	Palacio de Deportes, Madrid, Community of Madrid
Win	84–7–8	Danny Machado	KO	1 (10)	1971–09–10	Plaza de Toros de Bilbao, Bilbao, Basque Country
Win	83–7–8	Jesse Billy Crown	KO	1 (10) 0:30	1971–07–16	Campo del Gas, Madrid, Community of Madrid
Loss	82–7–8	George Foreman	TKO	10 (15)	1971–05–10	Oakland Coliseum Arena, Oakland, California	For vacant NABF Heavyweight title.
Win	82–6–8	Humberto Ghiotti	KO	2 (10)	1971–03–06	Coronel Pringles, Buenos Aires
Win	81–6–8	Alfredo Vogrig	TKO	5 (10)	1970–12–18	Palacio de Deportes, Madrid, Community of Madrid
Win	80–6–8	Roger Tighe	TKO	8 (10)	1970–09–01	Bilbao, Basque Country
Win	79–6–8	Herbert Wick	KO	3 (10)	1970–06–22	Barcelona, Catalonia
Win	78–6–8	Piero del Papa	RTD	5 (10)	1970–06–06	Montevideo, Montevideo
Loss	77–6–8	George Foreman	UD	10	1970–02–16	Madison Square Garden, New York City
Draw	77–5–8	Oscar Bonavena	PTS	10	1969–08–08	Palacio Peñarol, Montevideo, Montevideo
Win	77–5–7	José Menno	PTS	10	1969–01–15	Estadio Bristol, Mar del Plata, Buenos Aires
Win	76–5–7	José Menno	PTS	10	1968–12–27	Mar del Plata, Buenos Aires
Win	75–5–7	Marcelo Garnica	KO	3 (10)	1968–12–07	Mar del Plata, Buenos Aires
Win	74–5–7	René Sosa	KO	4 (10)	1968–11–15	Estadio Norte, Rosario, Santa Fe
Win	73–5–7	Francisco Ramos	TKO	5 (10)	1968–11–10	Club Córdoba, Corrientes, Corrientes
Win	72–5–7	Hugo Daniele	TKO	7 (10)	1968–10–19	Club Pacífico, Neuquén, Neuquén
Win	71–5–7	Roberto Veliz	KO	2 (10)	1968–10–04	Trelew, Chubut
Win	70–5–7	Dick Hall	PTS	10	1968–09–14	Luna Park, Buenos Aires
Win	69–5–7	Ramón Rocha	PTS	10	1968–08–23	Rosario, Santa Fe
Win	68–5–7	Miguel Angel Paez	PTS	10	1968–08–10	Luna Park, Buenos Aires
Win	67–5–7	Kurt Luedecke	TKO	4 (10)	1968–07–05	San Rafael, Mendoza
Draw	66–5–7	Vittorio Saraudi	PTS	10	1968–05–05	Luna Park, Buenos Aires
Win	66–5–6	Felipe Marich	DQ	9 (10)	1968–04–20	San Juan, San Juan
Win	65–5–6	Felipe Marich	DQ	9 (10)	1968–04–05	La Rioja, La Rioja
Win	64–5–6	Ron Marsh	DQ	9 (10)	1968–03–11	San Juan, San Juan
Win	63–5–6	Carlos Paez	TKO	3 (10)	1968–03–08	Río Cuarto, Córdoba
Draw	62–5–6	Chuck Leslie	PTS	10	1967–12–20	Luna Park, Buenos Aires
Win	62–5–5	Felipe Marich	TKO	4 (10)	1967–11–24	Córdoba, Córdoba
Win	61–5–5	Chuck Leslie	PTS	10	1967–11–12	Buenos Aires
Win	60–5–5	Justo Benitez	TKO	5 (10)	1967–10–21	Luna Park, Buenos Aires
Win	59–5–5	José Menno	UD	10	1967–10–07	Luna Park, Buenos Aires
Win	58–5–5	René Sosa	TKO	6 (10)	1967–09–15	Trelew, Chubut
Win	57–5–5	Angel Ludueña	KO	4 (10)	1967–08–18	Cipolletti, Río Negro
Win	56–5–5	Hugo Daniele	TKO	6 (10)	1967–08–04	Bahía Blanca, Buenos Aires
Win	55–5–5	Andrés Selpa	UD	10	1967–07–15	Luna Park, Buenos Aires
Win	54–5–5	Hugo Daniele	PTS	10	1967–07–01	Estadio Parque de Mayo, San Juan, San Juan
Win	53–5–5	Carlos Vazquez	KO	3 (10)	1967–06–09	Boxing Club, Río Gallegos, Santa Cruz
Win	52–5–5	Alberto Hergerseimer	KO	3 (10)	1967–05–28	Saavedra, Buenos Aires
Win	51–5–5	Hugo Daniele	PTS	10	1967–05–19	Córdoba, Córdoba
Win	50–5–5	Carlos Paez	KO	3 (10)	1967–05–05	Salón de los Deportes, Bahía Blanca, Buenos Aires
Win	49–5–5	René Sosa	KO	5 (10)	1966–11–05	Azul, Buenos Aires
Loss	48–5–5	Oscar Bonavena	UD	12	1965–09–04	Luna Park, Buenos Aires	Lost Argentine Heavyweight title.
Win	48–4–5	René Sosa	KO	3 (10)	1965–08–06	Córdoba, Córdoba
Win	47–4–5	Miguel Angel Paez	PTS	10	1965–07–10	Mar del Plata, Buenos Aires
Win	46–4–5	René Sosa	KO	3 (10)	1965–06–01	Córdoba, Córdoba
Draw	45–4–5	Miguel Angel Paez	PTS	10	1965–05–24	Mar del Plata, Buenos Aires
Win	45–4–4	Lino Armenteros	TKO	6 (10)	1965–05–08	Buenos Aires
Win	44–4–4	Aníbal Córdoba	PTS	10	1965–03–27	Tapalqué, Buenos Aires
Win	43–4–4	Mauro Mina	UD	10	1964–09–20	Luna Park, Buenos Aires
Win	42–4–4	Pablo Sagrispanti	TKO	5 (10)	1964–09–05	Rivadavia, Mendoza
Win	41–4–4	Juan Morales	TKO	3 (10)	1964–08–22	Palacio Peñarol, Montevideo, Montevideo
Win	40–4–4	Roberto Davila	PTS	15	1964–07–18	Luna Park, Buenos Aires	Won South American Heavyweight titles.
Loss	39–4–4	Willie Pastrano	TKO	5 (15) 3:00	1964–04–10	Municipal Auditorium, New Orleans, Louisiana	For WBA and WBC Light heavyweight titles.
Win	39–3–4	Wayne Thornton	UD	10	1964–01–24	Madison Square Garden, New York City
Win	38–3–4	Telmo Gonzalez	KO	2 (10)	1963–12–21	Azul, Buenos Aires
Win	37–3–4	Wayne Thornton	SD	10	1963–11–15	Madison Square Garden, New York City
Win	36–3–4	Willie Pastrano	UD	10	1963–09–20	Miami Beach Auditorium, Miami Beach, Florida
Win	35–3–4	Telmo Gonzalez	KO	1 (10)	1963–08–02	Río Gallegos, Santa Cruz
Win	34–3–4	Justo Benitez	TKO	6 (10)	1963–07–05	Río Gallegos, Santa Cruz
Win	33–3–4	Justo Benitez	PTS	10	1963–05–03	San Juan, Argentina
Win	32–3–4	Guillermo Dutschmann	TKO	9 (10)	1963–04–13	Buenos Aires
Win	31–3–4	Justo Benitez	PTS	10	1963–02–22	Estadio Julio Mocoroa, San Juan, Argentina
Win	30–3–4	Alfredo Yacanto	PTS	10	1963–02–01	San Juan, Argentina
Win	29–3–4	Pablo Sagrispanti	PTS	10	1963–01–25	San Juan, Argentina
Win	28–3–4	Jorge Tissera	KO	3 (10)	1962–12–21	San Juan, Argentina
Win	27–3–4	Rodolfo Diaz	PTS	10	1962–12–02	Buenos Aires
Win	26–3–4	Justo Benitez	PTS	10	1962–11–03	Buenos Aires
Win	25–3–4	Justo Benitez	PTS	12	1962–09–19	Luna Park, Buenos Aires	Retained Argentine Heavyweight title.
Win	24–3–4	José Giorgetti	PTS	12	1962–08–04	Mar del Plata, Buenos Aires	Won Argentine Heavyweight title.
Win	23–3–4	Antonio Diaz	PTS	10	1962–06–16	Mar del Plata, Buenos Aires
Win	22–3–4	Carlos Paiva	KO	5 (10)	1962–05–18	Azul, Buenos Aires Province
Win	21–3–4	José Giorgetti	UD	10	1962–04–14	Estadio Bristo, Mar del Plata, Buenos Aires
Win	20–3–4	Andres Villalba	TKO	3 (10)	1962–03–02	Tapalqué, Buenos Aires
Win	19–3–4	Aurelio Diaz	DQ	4 (10)	1961–12–15	Azul, Buenos Aires Province
Win	18–3–4	Pablo Sagrispanti	PTS	10	1961–11–24	Azul, Buenos Aires Province
Win	17–3–4	José Angel Mazur	PTS	10	1961–10–25	Buenos Aires
Win	16–3–4	Antonio Diaz	PTS	10	1961–09–15	Azul, Buenos Aires Province
Draw	15–3–4	Antonio Diaz	PTS	10	1961–08–04	Azul, Buenos Aires Province
Win	15–3–3	Pablo Sagrispanti	PTS	10	1961–06–09	Azul, Buenos Aires Province
Win	14–3–3	Ricardo Gonzalez	TKO	6 (10)	1961–05–05	Azul, Buenos Aires Province
Win	13–3–3	Carloz Vazquez	PTS	10	1961–04–14	Azul, Buenos Aires Province
Win	12–3–3	Hector Wilson	TKO	4 (10)	1960–08–16	Azul, Buenos Aires Province
Loss	11–3–3	Mauro Mina	KO	8 (10)	1960–06–19	Tribuna Norte, Lima
Win	11–2–3	Juan Carlos Comini	KO	7 (10)	1959–12–09	Palacio Peñarol, Montevideo
Win	10–2–3	Jovito Arregui	PTS	10	1959–10–31	Montevideo
Win	9–2–3	Andrés Villalba	KO	2 (10)	1959–10–03	Montevideo
Win	8–2–3	Aurelio Diaz	TKO	2 (10) 3:00	1959–09–12	Palacio Peñarol, Montevideo
Win	7–2–3	Luis Ignacio	KO	3 (10)	1959–08–23	Rio de Janeiro
Draw	6–2–3	Aurelio Diaz	PTS	10	1959–07–24	Estádio do Ibirapuera, Rio de Janeiro
Loss	6–2–2	Justo Benitez	PTS	10	1959–06–03	Montevideo
Draw	6–1–2	Aurelio Diaz	PTS	4	1959–05–03	Montevideo
Loss	6–1–1	Luis Ignacio	PTS	10	1959–03–31	São Paulo
Draw	6–0–1	José Angel Mazur	PTS	10	1958–10–22	Montevideo
Win	6–0	José Angel Mazur	PTS	10	1958–09–06	Palacio Peñarol, Montevideo
Win	5–0	Justo Benitez	TKO	5 (6)	1958–08–09	Montevideo
Win	4–0	Marcelo Farias	TKO	2 (6)	1958–08–02	Palacio Peñarol, Montevideo
Win	3–0	Julio Buffi	KO	2 (6)	1958–05–09	Quilmes, Buenos Aires
Win	2–0	Tomas Lenning	TKO	3 (6)	1958–04–19	Luna Park, Buenos Aires
Win	1–0	Rene Pereyra	TKO	4 (6)	1958–04–05	Luna Park, Buenos Aires

See also

• List of Argentines

References

External links

• Gregorio Peralta at Find a Grave