Wilfredo Gómez: key obituary facts
Is Wilfredo Gómez dead? Yes. Wilfredo Gómez died on October 10, 2026, at age 69.
Cause of death: Wilfredo Gómez's cause of death has not been publicly confirmed.
What was Wilfredo Gómez known for?
He was a Puerto Rican boxer.
More about Wilfredo Gómez
Born: 29 October 1956.
Place of birth: San Juan.
Gender: male.
Occupation: boxer.
Nationality: United States.
Awards: International Boxing Hall of Fame, WBC World Featherweight Champion, WBC World Super Bantamweight Champion, WBA World Super Featherweight Champion, The Ring World Junior Lightweight Champion, The Ring World Junior Featherweight Champion.
Also known as: El Nino de las Monjas, Wilfredo Gomez, Wilfredo Gomez Rivera, Bazooka Gomez.
Wilfredo Gómez, Puerto Rican Hall of Fame boxer and former three-division world champion, died October 10, 2026, aged 69.
Born Wilfredo Gómez Rivera in Hato Rey, San Juan, Puerto Rico, on October 29, 1956, he grew up in Las Monjas, where he sold candy for pocket money and used a bicycle for transportation before taking up amateur boxing. Gómez won world championships at junior featherweight, featherweight and super featherweight.
As a junior featherweight, he recorded 17 consecutive knockouts in championship defenses, a mark identified as a record across all boxing divisions. The Ring ranked him 13th on its list of the 100 greatest punchers of all time. He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1995. Sports journalists and analysts have frequently counted Gómez among Puerto Rico’s leading boxers, alongside Félix Trinidad, Miguel Cotto, Wilfred Benítez, Esteban De Jesús, Edwin Rosario and Carlos Ortíz. Sometimes known as Bazooka Gómez, he became one of the island’s most prominent champions across three weight classes.