Joseph Gamache (born May 20, 1966) is an American boxing trainer and former professional boxer. He is the second boxer from Maine to capture a world boxing title, as he won the WBA
super featherweight
Super featherweight, also known as junior lightweight, is a boxing weight classes, weight division in professional boxing, contested between and .
The super featherweight division was established by the New York Walker Law in 1920, although firs ...
Julio César Chávez
Julio César Chávez González (; born July 12, 1962), also known as Julio César Chávez Sr., is a Mexican former professional boxer who competed from 1980 to 2005. A multiple-time world champion in three weight divisions, Chávez was liste ...
Little League Baseball
Little League Baseball and Softball (officially, Little League Baseball Inc) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizationWBA
super featherweight
Super featherweight, also known as junior lightweight, is a boxing weight classes, weight division in professional boxing, contested between and .
The super featherweight division was established by the New York Walker Law in 1920, although firs ...
title. He vacated the title to move up to lightweight. The following year, Gamache defeated Chil-Sung Chun (18-1) to win the vacant WBA lightweight title. He lost the lightweight title in his first defense to Tony Lopez (40-3-1) via
TKO TKO may refer to:
Sports
* Technical knockout, a professional fighting term
* Total Knock Out, a professional wrestling move
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* TKO (band), a rock band from Seattle, Washington
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in the eleventh round. Gamache fought bravely against the stronger, more experienced Lopez. In 1994, Gamache fought Orzubek Nazarov (19-0) for the WBA lightweight title, but lost via second-round TKO. He fought
Julio César Chávez
Julio César Chávez González (; born July 12, 1962), also known as Julio César Chávez Sr., is a Mexican former professional boxer who competed from 1980 to 2005. A multiple-time world champion in three weight divisions, Chávez was liste ...
(96-2-1) in 1996. The referee stopped the fight at the end of the 8th round, giving Chávez a harder-than-expected victory.
Retirement
In his last fight on February 26, 2000, Gamache was brutally knocked out in two rounds by Arturo Gatti (30-4) at
Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as The Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh and Eighth avenues from 31st to 33rd Street, above Pennsylva ...
. Gamache went on to file lawsuits against both Gatti and the New York State Athletic Commission, alleging that Gatti weighed significantly more than the contracted weight at the time of the fight. A NYSAC official allowed Gatti off the scale before it could be determined that he had made the 141-pound weight limit.
HBO
Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...
said Gatti weighed 160 pounds on fight night compared to Gamache's 145 pounds. Gamache said he suffered brain damage as a result of the brutal knockout and was hospitalised for days. The case was tried and decided by Judge Melvin Schweitzer, who found the state negligent in its lax handling of the pre-fight weigh-in. Gamache was not awarded any damages, as Schweitzer was not convinced that the negligence was a substantial factor in causing Gamache's injury. Gamache considered the verdict a win as it acknowledged the NYSAC's negligence.
Training career
Gamache's son, Steven Gamache, made his professional debut in 2010. Today, Gamache works as a licensed boxing trainer, coaching some of the top fighters in the sport. He trained Boyd Melson, who won the gold medal at the 2004 World Military Boxing Championships in the 69 kg weight class and fought professionally at
light middleweight
Light middleweight, also known as junior middleweight or super welterweight,PeBoxRec/ref> is a weight class in combat sports.
Boxing
The light middleweight division (also known as junior middleweight in the IBF or super welterweight in the WBA an ...
until his retirement in 2016. Gamache was hired by
Team Sauerland
Wilfried Sauerland (born 29 February 1940 in Wuppertal) is a German boxing promoter and manager. He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2010. Retrieved 20 April 2015
Career
Boxing camps associated with Sauerland, have h ...
, and trained the Danish
super middleweight
Super middleweight, or light cruiserweight, is a weight class in combat sports.
Boxing
In professional boxing, super middleweight is contested between the middleweight and light heavyweight divisions, in which boxers can weigh between 160 pounds ( ...
contender Patrick Nielsen. Gamache is the current trainer of Swedish boxer Otto Wallin, who faced the former unified heavyweight world champion Tyson Fury on September 14, 2019.
He is also a member of the training team of Teofimo Lopez