Professional Career
Elorde made his professional debut at the age of 16 on June 16, 1951, against Kid Gonzaga. The bout was held in Cebu, Philippines. The boxing newcomer stopped his foe in the 4th round.
Within a year, Elorde was able to win the national bantamweight title. His potential was evident: he was a solidly built southpaw whose major asset were his quick hands and relentless body attack on his opponents.
In his first 14 fights he suffered 2 defeats and 1 draw before coming into his own. He defeated Tanny Campo and Hiroshi Horiguchi both in 12 round decisions to win the Philippine and Asian bantamweight titles. He also outpointed all time great featherweight champion Sandy Saddler in 1955 in a non-title bout.
In 1956, he was given a rematch with Saddler, this time with Saddler's featherweight title on the line. However, Elorde suffered a cut in his eye and lost the fight on a 13th round TKO. Many boxing experts criticized Saddler, known as a very rough and vicious fighter, for the result of the bout. Jack Fiske of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote: "It was a dirty fight throughout and all the onus must be on the 126-pound champion's skinny shoulders. From this corner it appeared highly improbable that he could have successfully defended the title ... if he hadn't resorted to all the so-called tricks in and out of the rule book."
He won the world super featherweight title on March 16, 1960 by knocking out the defending world champion Harold Gomes in seven rounds. That night, Elorde ended the country’s 20-year world championship drought. The crowd estimated to be around 30,000, inside the newly built Araneta Coliseum, rushed into the ring after seeing Gomes go down to his knees at the one minute and 50 seconds mark of the seventh round. The event happened two decades after compatriot Ceferino Garcia, known as the father of the ‘bolo punch’, lost the middleweight division he lorded over until 1940.
Elorde floored Gomes in the second round with a right hook to the head. The Filipino challenger knocked down the 25-year-old Gomes again in the third and in the fifth, sending him over the ring’s lower rope at the end of the round. In the next round, Gomes mounted a brief comeback, but at the start of the seventh, Elorde hammered him again, connecting with rights to the head followed by a left to the jaw that sent him down once more. Gomes got up but was floored again after receiving a combination of lefts and rights. He then met a series of combinations that led the referee Barney Ross to count him out. When Gomes recovered, he went to Elorde’s corner and whispered: “It was a good fight.”
He defended the crown 10 times until June 15, 1967 where he lost a majority decision to Yoshiaki Numata of Japan. This made him the longest reigning world junior lightweight champion ever (seven years and three months).
Elorde also challenged lightweight Carlos Ortiz for his world title on two occasions. He was stopped both times by Ortiz in the 14th round.
Elorde retired with a record of 88 wins (33 KOs), 27 losses and 2 draws. He is considered the greatest super featherweight champion of all time in WBC history.
Read more about this topic: Gabriel Elorde
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