Michael Carbajal

Michael Carbajal
Data
Birth Name	Michael Carbajal
Fight name	Manitas De Piedra
Weight class	Light flyweight
nationality	US-american
birthday	17th September 1967
place of birth	Phoenix
style	Left delivery
size	1.66 m
Combat Statistics
Struggles	53
Victories	49
Knockout victories	33
Defeats	4th

Michael Carbajal medal table
Boxing
United States
Olympic Summer Games
silver	1988	Light flyweight
Pan American Games
silver	1987	Light flyweight

Michael Carbajal (born September 17, 1967 in Phoenix , Arizona ) is a retired American light flyweight boxer .

Amateur career

Carbajal won 94 out of 103 fights as an amateur. He won bronze at the US championships in 1984 and 1985, after he was eliminated in the semifinals against James Harris and Brian Lonon. In 1986 he won the National Golden Gloves , defeating Gary Harvey in the final.

At the US Championships in 1987 he was eliminated again against Brian Lonon in the semifinals and won bronze again. However, he won the US Olympic Festival in 1987 with a final victory against the later double world champion Eric Griffin , who had beaten Brian Lonon in the semifinals. Carbajal was then able to take part in the Pan American Games in 1987 , in which he was able to defeat reigning world champion Juan Torres, among others , before losing to reigning vice world champion Luis Rolón in the final and thus won silver.

In 1988 he won gold at the US championships, beating Brian Lonon and James Harris, among others. Then he also won the US Olympic qualification, where he could again defeat Brian Lonon and Eric Griffin. Since he was then able to win the US Olympic box-offs with a final victory against James Harris, he started at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul . There he beat Oh Kwang-soo, Ðặng Hiếu Hiền, Scott Olson and Róbert Isaszegi , before losing to Iwajlo Marinow in the fight for the gold medal .

Professional career

As the first US boxer of the 1988 Olympic Games, he switched to the professional camp and won his debut on February 24, 1989 against Will Grigsby . He also won his next 13 fights in a row before defeating the Thai title holder Muangchai Kittikasem in the fight for the IBF World Championship by technical knockout (TKO) in the seventh round on July 29, 1990 , and had his opponent on the ground four times . He then won twelve more fights, including six title defenses.

On March 13, 1993, he defeated the Mexican WBC World Champion Humberto González by knockout (KO) in the seventh round in a title association . The fight was the first light flyweight show to be broadcast pay-per-view as the main fight . The spectacular fight, in which Carbajal was also twice on the ground, was voted Ring Magazine fight of the year . Carbajal himself won the Ring Magazine Boxer of the Year election . He was able to defend the title twice, including in July 1993 by TKO against the South Korean flyweight Olympic champion from 1988, Kim Kwang-sun . He had already defended the IBF title nine times.

On February 19, 1994, he boxed in a rematch against Humberto González and was subject to this just by a split decision on points. Up to this point, Carbajal had made the rather little-noticed light flyweight into a respected weight class and was the first boxer in this class to bring in a combat purse of one million dollars.

On July 15, 1994 he defeated the Puerto Rican Josue Camacho unanimously on points and thus became WBO world champion, but resigned the title in November 1994 without having defended it. Instead, he boxed again on November 12, 1994 against González for the world title of the IBF and WBC, but lost again by a tight majority decision on points. His next seven fights he won again, including a knockout victory in the first round against José Quirino .

Through these successes he got another World Cup chance on March 16, 1996 and boxed for the vacant IBF world title, which he was able to secure by a unanimous victory against the Mexican Melchor Castro . He was able to defend the title twice before losing just by split decision on January 18, 1997 against the Colombian Mauricio Pastrana . In March 1997 he won by knockout against Scott Olson, whom he had already defeated at the 1988 Olympic Games. In July 1997 he lost for the first time prematurely, due to several cut injuries, by TKO against Jacob Matlala . In February 1999 he defeated José de Jesús .

His last professional fight he played on July 31, 1999 in the renewed fight for the WBO world title and won it by TKO in the eleventh round against the Mexican Jorge Arce .

During and after boxing

Since 1993 he has been the owner of Michael Carbajal's 9th St Gym in Phoenix. In 2006 he was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame .

predecessor	Office	successor
Muangchai Kittikasem	World Light Flyweight Boxing Champion ( IBF ) July 29, 1990 - February 19, 1994	Humberto González

predecessor	Office	successor
Humberto González	Light Flyweight Boxing Champion ( WBC ) March 13, 1993 - February 19, 1994	Humberto González

predecessor	Office	successor
Josue Camacho	World light flyweight boxing champion ( WBO ) July 15, 1994 - November 12, 1994	Paul Weir

predecessor	Office	successor
Saman Sorjaturong	World Light Flyweight Boxing Champion ( IBF ) March 16, 1996 - January 18, 1997	Mauricio Pastrana

predecessor	Office	successor
Jorge Arce	World Light Flyweight Boxing Champion ( WBO ) July 31, 1999 - August 1999	Masibulele macepula

Web links

• Michael Carbajal in the BoxRec database
• Michael Carbajal in the database of Sports-Reference (English; archived from the original )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ US Championship 1984
2. ↑ US Championship 1986
3. ↑ Golden Gloves 1986
4. ↑ US Championship 1987
5. ↑ US Olympic Festival 1987
6. ↑ Pan American Games 1987
7. ↑ US Championship 1988
8. ^ US National Olympic Trials 1988
9. ↑ US Olympic Box-offs 1988
10. ↑ 1988 Olympic Games