Ricardo Mendoza Fortaleza (born April 18, 1951 in Malate,

Manila Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the Capital of the Philippines, capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on ...

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) is a Filipino- Australian retired Olympic amateur boxer/amateur boxing coach and boxing instructor. He currently lives in Blacktown,

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Early career

Ricardo fought in the bantamweight division. He has won a

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in 1969 at the first Asian youth championships. He has won the only gold medal in Amateur Boxing for the Philippines in the 6th Asian Games in

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and a silver medal finish in the 1971 Asian Boxing Championship in

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. Ricardo was Philippine National Games champion in 1969-1974 and Manila

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champion in 1965-1967.

The Fortaleza brothers

Ricardo was one of the four famous Fortaleza brothers in the Philippines, they were all famous in the sport of boxing. The four consisted of Ricardo "Ric", Reynaldo "Rey", Renato "Rene" and Rogelio "Roger". Although Ric was the most successful of the four, Rey, Rene and Roger were also successful boxers.

1972 Munich Olympics

Ricardo represented the Philippines at the 1972 Munich Olympics, losing to Mexico's Alfonso Zamora by a second-round knockout in the Round of 32.

Coaching

Fortaleza became the Philippines boxing team coach from 1976 to 1993. He led the Philippine team at the 1992 Olympic Games in

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, the President's Cup in

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, the King's Cup in Bangkok, the Southeast Asian Games in Singapore, the second World Boxing championships in

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, the Asian Games in Bangkok, the Inter-Cup tournament in Schriesheim (

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), the Acropolis Cup in

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, and several other international tournaments. Fortaleza also trained boxers from different parts of the world. He helped introduce the sport of amateur boxing in Oman, he was assigned at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex. He coached the Oman boxing team between 1986 and 1990 and led the team to the 1988 Olympic Games in

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. Fortaleza acted as a boxing coach at

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College of Physical Education in

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Australia

Fortaleza migrated with his family to Australia in 2000.Pimentel, Jaime K. (2001),
Australia nets top Filipino amateur boxing coach
, ''emanila.com'' He volunteered at the Sydney Olympic games in boxing tournaments.

Championships and accomplishments

* Gold medal - 1st Asian Youth Amateur Boxing Tournament- Tokyo Japan * Gold medal - 6th Asian Games - Bangkok Thailand * Silver medal - 1971 Asian Boxing Champhionship - Tehran Iran * Olympian - 1972 Munich Olympics * Philippines' Amateur Boxer of the year - 1970, 1971 and 1972

Personal life

Ricardo Fortaleza is the father of Musician Eric Fortaleza.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fortaleza, Ricardo 1951 births Living people Boxers at the 1972 Summer Olympics Olympic boxers for the Philippines Bantamweight boxers Boxing trainers People from Malate, Manila Boxers from Manila Boxers from Sydney Asian Games medalists in boxing Boxers at the 1970 Asian Games Australian male boxers Asian Games gold medalists for the Philippines Medalists at the 1970 Asian Games Boxers at the 1974 Asian Games Filipino male boxers SEA Games medalists in boxing Sportsmen from New South Wales Far Eastern University alumni 20th-century Australian sportsmen 20th-century Filipino sportsmen