Héctor Javier Velazco
Hector Javier Velazco ( born May 20, 1973 in Avellaneda, Buenos Aires Province ) is a former, Argentine professional boxer and WBO world champion at middleweight. His fight name was " El Artillero " (engl.: " The Gunner ").
Velazco played his first professional fight on September 7, 1996 against his compatriot José Escobar and won by KO in Round 3 After two more knockout wins, he had on 1 February 1997 suffered his first defeat when he was disqualified in the fight against his fellow countryman Jorge Arias, already in the first round.
This was followed by 19 bouts against opponents average build, of which he won 17 and a draw boxed. On 21 July 2000, he won with a points win over his compatriot Ramon Britez, the WBO Latino middleweight title. On 21 April 2001, he defeated the Brazilian Rogerio Cacciatore by Ko in round 8 and won the WBC Continental Americas middleweight title.
On 10 May 2003 he was interimer WBO world middleweight champion after his Hungarian opponent Andras Galfi, had to give up due to an injury at the start of the 8th round. On June 29, 2003, he was finally appointed to the reigning world champion, lost his title but the very first title defense fight on September 13, 2003, after a points defeat to the German Felix Sturm. On 19 June 2004, he tried to secure the vacant WBO Inter- Continental middleweight title, but failed at his compatriot Mariano Carrera technical knockout in round 10 On 23 April 2005, he rose against the German Arthur Abraham in the ring and punched to the Intercontinental title of WBF and WBA middleweight, but lost by KO 5 in round
Meanwhile, in the next higher weight class, the super middleweight boxing, he tried to secure the vacant WBO Intercontinental title here on 19 May 2007, but failed at the German Brähmer by dots defeat. After July 3, 2008 also the fight for the WBA title against Fedelatin Venezuelans Gusmyr Perdomo by Ko lost in round 2, he ended his boxing career.
On 31 July 2010, he launched a comeback attempt and punched against Braimah Kamoko to the WBF world title in the light heavyweight division, losing by technical knockout in round 10