Michael Gomez (born 1977) is a former professional boxer. He was born to an Irish Traveller family in Longford, County Longford, Ireland, spending his early years in Dublin before moving to Manchester, England with his family at the age of nine. Gomez finished his career fighting in the lightweight division, however, he is more notable for his fights in the featherweight and super featherweight divisions. During his career he has amassed a number of championship title belts: the IBF Inter-Continental featherweight title; and the British, WBO Inter-Continental, WBA Inter-Continental and WBU super featherweight titles. He was the first Irish boxer to win the Lonsdale Belt outright. Of his 17 fights between February 2001 and March 2008, 16 ended in knockouts. On 21 June 2008, Gomez lost what was seen as possibly his last bout—a last chance saloon opportunity to resurrect his career against rising star and Olympic silver medallist Amir Khan. The fight ended with Gomez suffering a TKO when the referee stopped the fight in the fifth round.

Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Gomez

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

435:

Nestorius, the originator of Nestorianism, was exiled by Byzantine Emperor Theodosius II to a monastery in Egypt. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nestorius

1916:

Irish nationalist Sir Roger Casement was hanged at London's Pentonville Prison for treason for his role in the Easter Rising, a rebellion to win Irish independence from Britain. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Casement

1948:

Before the House Un-American Activities Committee of the United States House of Representatives, former spy turned government informer Whittaker Chambers accused U.S. State Department official Alger Hiss of being a communist and a Soviet spy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whittaker_Chambers

1949:

The Basketball Association of America agreed to merge with the National Basketball League to form the National Basketball Association. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Basketball_Association

2005:

President Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya of Mauritania was overthrown in a military coup while he was attending the funeral of King Fahd in Saudi Arabia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maaouya_Ould_Sid%27Ahmed_Taya

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

mastermind (v): To act in the role of a person responsible for the highest level of planning and execution of a major operation http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mastermind

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

I have tried at times to place humans in perspective against the vastness of universal time and space. I have been concerned with where we, as a race, may be going and what may be our purpose in the universal scheme — if we have a purpose. In general, I believe we do, and perhaps an important one. --Clifford D. Simak http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Clifford_D._Simak