Sometimes in boxing we'll try really hard to like somebody.  It's nothing like a sexy crush whom we pretty up with new clothes & make-up before prancing her in front of our mama - and it moves beyond putting "lipstick on a pig." 
 
No.  Boxing is deeper than that for most of us. 
 
Here's what I'm getting at... For instance I tried really hard to jump on the Mike Tyson bandwagon as a kid.  He was ferocious enough, yes.  His fights were only a matter of when he was going to win - not IF - and I really liked that too.  The problem I had with wearing Tyson tee-shirts stemmed from the over-the-top bullying remarks I'd heard him yelp towards the likes of Buster Mathis, Jr., Pinklon Thomas & Larry Holmes (among others). 
 
I liked these guys as people and as fighters, what can I say?  At the end of the day it was really hard to overlook other antics enough while admitting (with everyone else in the 90's!) that Mike Tyson was actually the greatest fighter on the planet.  He badmouthed Buster Mathis, Jr. publicly before their fight, in front of his family.  Finally, I'd heard a story about Tyson avoiding eye contact with Holyfield on a pool table one day while bullying everyone else in sight and taking their sticks.  This ultimately made me shift hard "back" to the naysayer bandwagon. 
 
Dunno, too many cons, not enough pros - maybe I'm just weird like that.
 
I guess I feel this same nagging feeling about "The Black Panther" Juan Carlos Gomez. By taking a look at this monster's stats on paper it's difficult not to be SOLD.  Gomez stands 6' 4", weighs in the 240+ range and has an awkward Cuban Southpaw stance to back up his incredible 44-1 record.  Nice, huh?  Maybe he'll even have a shot to halt the 4 fight KO streak of his next opponent (3/21 ~ ESPN) WBC Heavyweight Champion Vitali Klitschko?
 
Well, maybe, yet it is highly doubtful.
 
Hey, I've seen Gomez fight about five times and just can't make myself like him.  Gomez hasn't fought one top 15 opponent, ever!  How he got the title-shot "gift" to face Klitschko for the WBC Championship over countless more worthy contenders is politics at its best.
 
Maybe there's a piece of me thinking that the Cuban style needs to stay out of the pro heavyweight class and be reserved for any weight-class below the welterweight division.  I can't put my finger on it.
 
It could be the ridiculous hair-cut he usually sports into the ring. Dunno... 
 
It could be the fact that Gomez has slugged it out twice with Oliver McCall (Oliver who?) and only walked away with a close 10 round decision once (the other was a NC after 10 rounds). 
 
Perhaps my restraining order on Gomez stems from the fact that out of his 45 fights, he's only fought on U.S. soil 3 times - once slugging it out with a highly-shot Al "Ice" Cole before knocking him out in the 6th, once getting KO'd in the first round by Yanqui Diaz and once by securing his most impressive performance to date (six years ago) in a win versus then undefeated Sinan Samil Sam. He could have KO'd Sinan Sam twice.

I just can't buy into the Juan Carlos Gomez.
 
If VIitali Klitschko dissects the flailing awkwardness of Germany's adopted Cuban defector on March 21st (as he most likely should) - it may be a short night for Juan Carlos Gomez.
 
~Ricky Ray Taylor~
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