Héctor Velazco

Héctor Velazco
Data
Birth Name	Héctor Javier Velazco
Weight class	Middleweight, super middleweight
nationality	Argentinian
birthday	May 20, 1973
place of birth	Avellaneda
style	Left-hand boom
size	179 cm
Combat Statistics
Struggles	47
Victories	37
Knockout victories	16
Defeats	9
draw	1

Héctor Javier Velazco (born May 20, 1973 in Avellaneda , Buenos Aires Province ) is a former Argentine professional boxer and WBO world middleweight champion. His battle name was "El Artillero" (German: "The gunner").

Velazco played his first professional fight on September 7, 1996 against his compatriot José Escobar and won by knockout in round 3. After two more knockout victories, he suffered his first defeat on February 1, 1997 when he was fighting his compatriot Jorge Arias, was disqualified in the first round.

This was followed by 19 fights against average opponents, of which he won 17 and boxed a draw. On July 21, 2000, he won the WBO Latino middleweight title by beating his compatriot Ramon Britez on points. On April 21, 2001 he defeated the Brazilian Rogerio Cacciatore by knockout in round 8 and won the WBC Continental Americas middleweight title.

On May 10, 2003 he was interim WBO middleweight champion after his Hungarian opponent Andras Galfi had to give up due to injury at the beginning of the 8th round. On June 29, 2003, he was finally named reigning world champion, but lost his title in the first title defense fight on September 13, 2003, after losing points to the German Felix Sturm . On June 19, 2004 he tried to secure the vacant WBO Intercontinental middleweight title, but failed on his compatriot Mariano Carrera by technical knockout in round 10. On April 23, 2005 he rose against the German Arthur Abraham in the ring and boxed for the Intercontinental titles of the WBF and WBA middleweight, but lost by knockout in round 5.

Meanwhile in the next higher weight class, boxing the super middleweight, he tried to secure the vacant WBO Intercontinental title here on May 19, 2007, but failed at the German Jürgen Brähmer by losing points. After he also lost the fight for the WBA Fedelatin title against Venezuelan Gusmyr Perdomo by knockout in round 2 on July 3, 2008, he ended his boxing career.

On July 31, 2010 he started a comeback attempt and boxed against Braimah Kamoko for the WBF world title in light heavyweight, but lost through technical knockout in round 10.

predecessor	Office	successor
Harry Simon	World Middleweight Boxing Champion ( WBO ) June 29, 2003 - September 13, 2003	Felix Sturm

Web links

• Official homepage ( Memento of December 18, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
• Profile in the BoxRec database