Joan Guzman

Joan Guzman (born May 1, 1976), is a Dominican boxer who is the WBO's former world super-bantamweight champion. His nickname is "The little Tyson", and he is trained by Hector Rocha. Guzman stands 5 feet, 7 inches tall, which is a relatively tall size for a fighter of his division.

Guzman began his professional boxing career in the United States. His debut fight, on September 23, 1997, was held in Phoenix, Arizona. That night, he knocked out Juan Miguel Rivera in two rounds. After another second round knockout win (this time at the Madison Square Garden in New York city), he returned to the Dominican Republic.

He took off two years from boxing, then he came back for his first fight in his homeland. On March 11, 1999, he outpointed Orlando Mateo over eight rounds at Santo Domingo. He fought six more times, five in Santo Domingo and once in La Romana, before being given a title try for the Dominican Featherweight title. He won all bouts during that period, including a first round knockout of Mateo in a rematch.

During his two year lay-off, he dropped off in weight, from the Featherweight division to the Super Bantamweight division.

On October 25, 1999, he knocked out Francisco DeLeon in round eleven to win the national title. He retained the title once, with a two round knockout of Santiago Matos, and won four more fights in a row, each within two rounds (two of them over Julio Jerez, knocked out in one and two rounds, respectively), before facing Hector Julio Avila, on August 9, 2001, for the vacant NABO regional Super Bantamweight title.

The fight with Avila took on more importance in his career because, not only did he win the NABO regional title by a two round knockout, but, also, he had to witness as is rival lay in a coma for five minutes, being taken on a stretcher to the hospital minutes later. Many other boxers who have gone through experiences similar to that have expressed that a situation like that is one in which no boxer wants to get involved. Guzman won his next two fights by decision; there is a theory that boxers who see a rival get hurt tend to diminish their agressiveness on the bouts that follow.

One of those two decision wins was especially significant, since it was for the WBO's Latino title, as well as for the WBO's vacant intercontinental title and for Guzman's NABO title. Guzman added those two new regional championships and retained the one he already owned, by beating Edel Ruiz in twelve rounds, in a fight held at Tacoma, Washington. on September 29.

After his next victory, Guzman was ranked number one in the Super Bantamweight division by the WBO. The WBO's world Super Bantamweight champion, Agapito Sanchez, had travelled to Cardiff, Wales, to defend his title against Guzman, but he was diagnosed with a detached retina during a required medical check-up days before the fight.

Sanchez announced his retirement from boxing, and Guzman found himself fighting Fabio Oliva for the vacant WBO's world Super Bantamweight title, on August 17, 2002. Guzman was crowned as the WBO's world Super Bantamweight champion with a third round knockout win over Oliva, at the Cardiff Castle.

Next followed two first round knockout wins (including one in Panama City, Panama) in non-title bouts.

Sanchez returned to boxing, and, on February 26, 2004, he and Guzman finally met inside a boxing ring, at San Diego. Guzman retained the WBO's world Super Bantamweight title in his first defense, knocking out the former world champion in seven rounds.

He would have defended his world title against Marcos Licona on November 6 of that year at Phoenix, Arizona. He failed to make the Super Bantamweight division's weight limit, however, and wound up beating Joe Morales by a ten round decision instead. The WBO lifted the world title away from Guzman as a consequence of his not making weight for his defense with Licona.

Guzman's record stands at 22 wins and no losses, with 17 wins by knockout.