Wilfredo Gomez, Puerto Rican boxer, dies at 69

Puerto Rican boxer Wilfredo Gomez died on Saturday, former WBO president Paco Valcarcel announced on Sunday. Gomez was 69.

Gomez had been hospitalized in recent weeks with respiratory complications, according to multiple media reports.

"He passed away a few hours ago, the one to whom I owe having entered the great family of International Boxing," Valcarcel posted to social media. "Rest in peace, my eternal champion Wilfredo ‘Bazuka' Gomez."

A three-weight world champion, Gomez was born Wilfredo Gomez Rivera in 1956. An Olympian for Puerto Rico in 1972, he won a gold medal at the 1974 World Amateur Boxing Championships in Havana, Cuba, before turning professional.

His pro career quickly took off, as "Bazooka" Gomez compiled a 44-3-1 record (42 KOs), winning belts in the super bantamweight and featherweight divisions with the WBC and also collecting a super featherweight title with the WBA.

Perhaps most famously, Gomez won 17 consecutive title defense bouts via knockout in the super bantamweight division, a record for any boxing division.

In 1995, Gomez was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.