Julio Álamos

Álamos was born on 3 February 1991 to a well-to-do family in Santiago, Chile. He first began boxing when a gym opened up in neighboring Vitacura when he was 14 years old,^[2] but also tried sports like basketball, football and athletics.^[3] He then joined the Chilean Navy with hopes of becoming a Marine, but left after two years because he felt he was wasting his time and instead enrolled at the Universidad del Desarrollo to study commercial engineering.^[2][4]

He made his return to the ring and made his amateur debut at the age of 19, losing his first match in the first round by referee stoppage as a result of a bloody nose.^[4] He attempted to qualify for the 2014 South American Games, which were held in his hometown of Santiago, but was beaten by national teammate Joseph Cherkashyn for the spot.^[2] After this loss he moved up from middleweight to light heavyweight, where he would remain throughout the rest of his amateur career. He also made the decision to move to New York City to further his career, training under Michael Kozlowski at Gleason's Gym in Brooklyn for a year and becoming New York state champion.^[2][4] He also won a gold medal at the 2013 Ringside World Championships in the men's novice division.^[5]

In 2014 he competed at the Ringside World Championships again in Kansas City, Missouri, then returned to his homeland and won first place at the Chilean national championships in Cerro Navia. He began the next year with a silver-medal finish at the 34th annual Copa Independencia in the Dominican Republic^[6] before suffering early exits at the 2015 Pan American Games qualifiers and the Panamerican Championships.^[7][8] He also reached the quarterfinals of the 2016 American Olympic Qualification Tournament, where he fell to Albert Ramírez of Venezuela.^[9][10]

Álamos made his professional debut on 23 September 2016, defeating Gaston Ávalos via third-round technical knockout (TKO) at the Teatro Caupolicán in Santiago.^[11][12] After a string of victories he faced compatriot Arnoldo Poblete for his Chilean super middleweight title on 14 July 2017, although the champion had technically vacated his belt just before the fight by weighing in over the 168 pound limit.^[13] Nevertheless, Álamos knocked Poblete out late in the third round to become the national super middleweight champion.^[14] In December he beat César Reynoso by unanimous decision (UD) for the vacant South American super middleweight title at the Gran Arena Monticello in Mostazal,^[15] and successfully defended it by fourth-round TKO in June 2018 against Brazilian rival Felipe Santos Pedroso at the Teatro Caupolicán.^[16] He entered an agreement with Canal 13 to broadcast his fights, and his title defence against Santos Pedroso was the first boxing match to air on the channel in 30 years.^[17]

On 12 October 2018 he faced Argentine prospect Facundo Galovar for the vacant WBA Fedelatin super middleweight title at the Teatro Caupolicán. After Álamos suffered a fractured wrist in the fifth round, he went the distance and won the bout by unanimous decision with scores of 110–100, 110–101 and 109–103.^[18][19] The win moved him into the top 15 in the WBA rankings published later that month.^[20] He took eight months off before his next fight to heal his wrist, get shoulder surgery and finish his degree at the Universidad del Desarrollo, finally validating his El Ingeniero nickname.^[21][22] He returned on 14 June 2019 to defend his title against Argentine challenger Juan Gabriel Rizo Patrón in Mostazal, dropping him via second-round TKO to retain.^[23] He entered the top ten of the WBA rankings for the first time in October 2019.^[24]