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Marcelo Fabian Dominguez


BoztheMadman
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One of the best Argentinian fighters of the last 20-plus years, Dominguez has had a very long career, spanning over 20 years. Early on, he achieved his greatest success when he won the WBC (first interim, then full) cruiser title and defended it altogether five times before losing it to Juan Carlos Gomez, likely the best cruiser of the late 90's and early 2000's. Although he challenged for the world title three more times, he was unsuccessful and also fought as a heavyweight for a while. Dominguez was short for a cruiser at just under 5'10 (177 cm), but was sturdily built (like most other Argentinian fighters), could take a punch and was durable. He possessed the accumulative kind of power and threw a lot of punches, an aggressive fighter. 

Born 15 January 1970 in Buenos Aires, Dominguez became a pro in 1991 and from the start he fought as a cruiser. He won the Argentinian title on 30 October 1993, stopping Ricardo Alfredo Ibarra by TKO 8. On 3 December next year, he challenged for the WBC title against Anaclet Wamba, who at 6'3 (190 cm) was a lot taller and had reigned for 3 years as a champion. The fight was in Salta, Argentina, but Dominguez lost by a close majority decision. After that fight, Wamba vacated the belt and retired after one more fight. The belt now being vacant, MFD soon got to fight for the interim version, 25 July 1995 in Saint Jean de Luz, France. He stopped European champion Akim Tafer by TKO 9 to win his first world belt. Later that same year, he made two defenses, first stopping the countryman Reinaldo Gimenez by TKO 12 and then decisioning the tough and strong Russian Sergey Kobozev by a close split decision. It would be Kobozev's last fight, as he was murdered only about two weeks later.

On 5 July next year, he finally got the chance to win the "real" WBC belt when he fought Patrice Aoussi. The fight was again in France, in the town of Hyeres, and Aouissi retired in his corner after 10 rounds and hence, "El Toro" Dominguez was now the champion. He made his first defence by stopping the Brazilian Jose Arimatea da Silva by TKO 8 at home in Argentina and then made the second successful defence again in France, Le Cannet, by decisioning Akim Tafer in a rematch, winning by UD. That was his only fight of 1997, and the inactivity probably affected him when he defended for the third time against Juan Carlos Gomez of Cuba, who was almost 6'4 tall (192 cm) and a hard hitter. The fight happened 21 February 1998 in Mar del Plata, Argentina and Dominguez lost by the scores of 115-113 and 116-112 twice. 

That would be farewell to champion days for MFD. He again fought Gomez for the same title on 13 March 1999, this time in Luebeck, Germany. This time, he lost by lopsided scores, 119-110 and 119-111 twice. He would have to wait for 2 more years until getting a shot at the WBO title against Johnny Nelson. That fight was on 21 July 2001 in Sheffield and Dominguez lost a point for low blows and in the end lost convincingly on all scorecards. He then went up to heavyweight (which he was really short for) and won the South American title by UD against Pedro Daniel Franco, in 2002. He also beat the best Argentinian heavyweight of that time, Fabio Eduardo Moli, by UD, that same year. On 17 April 2004, he fought the enormous 7-foot Nikolay Valuev and lasted the distance against him but lost by UD in an 8-rounder. He had to overcome more than a foot in height disadvantage! 

In 2005, he again beat Moli, this time by RTD 7, but then decided to return to cruiser division, simply not being big enough to be successful at heavyweight. In his first fight there in years, he took on the much taller Welshman, Enzo Maccarinelli, who stands 6'4 and had a deadly punch. The fight was for the interim WBO title, in Cardiff, 8 July 2006. Despite putting up a fight, Dominguez was in the end dominated and worn down by the much younger man and had to quit in his corner after 9 rounds. After again beating Moli by TKO 6, he retired, but came back in 2013.  He fought at heavyweight for 2 more years, but at national level. In his second to last fight, he was stopped against Matias Ariel Vidondo by TKO 2. He retired after winning his last fight by UD 6 against Nelson Dario Dominguez, 7 March 2015. His record is 48(28)-8-1. He has only been stopped twice, once by corner retirement. 

Marcelo Fabian Dominguez was simply a tough and strong SOB who liked to brawl and slug it out. He could take it and dish it out and was only stopped after the end of his prime. He was a typical Argentinian prototype fighter-these guys are usually not there to box and play chess. All machismo and aggression, this is exactly the type of fighter Dominguez was. Being short for a cruiser, he compensated for it with his physical strength and toughness and also good movement and relatively good punching power. As he moved up in weight, he became pudgy but still did rather well, because he wasn't fighting at world level. Thank you.

Marcelo F. Dominguez (@ToroDominguez) / Twitter

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