Ricardo Mendoza Fortaleza (born April 18, 1951 in Malate

Malate

Malate is the ionized form of malic acid. It is an important chemical compound in biochemistry. In the C4 carbon fixation process, malate is a source of CO2 in the Calvin cycle....

, Manila

Manila

Manila is the capital of the Philippines. It is one of the sixteen cities forming Metro Manila.Manila is located on the eastern shores of Manila Bay and is bordered by Navotas and Caloocan to the north, Quezon City to the northeast, San Juan and Mandaluyong to the east, Makati on the southeast,...

, Philippines

Philippines

The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

) is a Filipino

Filipino people

The Filipino people or Filipinos are an Austronesian ethnic group native to the islands of the Philippines. There are about 92 million Filipinos in the Philippines, and about 11 million living outside the Philippines ....

-Australian retired Olympic

Olympic Games

The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...

 amateur boxer

Boxing

Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...

/amateur boxing coach

Coach (sport)

In sports, a coach is an individual involved in the direction, instruction and training of the operations of a sports team or of individual sportspeople.-Staff:...

 and boxing instructor. He now resides in Blacktown, Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

.

Early career

Ricardo fought in the bantamweight

Bantamweight

Bantamweight is usually a class in boxing for boxers who weigh above 115 pounds and up to 118 pounds . However, in Mixed Martial Arts it is 134-136 pounds . Wrestling also has similar weight classes including bantamweight...

 division. He has won a gold medal

Gold medal

A gold medal is typically the medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture...

 in Tokyo

Tokyo

, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...

, Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

 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

Asian Games

The Asian Games, officially known as Asiad, is a multi-sport event held every four years among athletes from all over Asia. The Games were regulated by the Asian Games Federation from the first Games in New Delhi, India, until the 1978 Games. Since the 1982 Games they have been organised by the...

 in Bangkok

Bangkok

Bangkok is the capital and largest urban area city in Thailand. It is known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon or simply Krung Thep , meaning "city of angels." The full name of Bangkok is Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom...

 and a silver medal

Silver medal

A silver medal is a medal awarded to the second place finisher of contests such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, and contests with similar formats....

 finish in the 1971 Asian Boxing Championship in Tehran

Tehran

Tehran , sometimes spelled Teheran, is the capital of Iran and Tehran Province. With an estimated population of 8,429,807; it is also Iran's largest urban area and city, one of the largest cities in Western Asia, and is the world's 19th largest city.In the 20th century, Tehran was subject to...

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

Golden Gloves

The Golden Gloves is the name given to annual competitions for amateur boxing in the United States. The Golden Gloves is often the term used to refer to the National Golden Gloves competition, but it also can represent several other amateur tournaments, including regional golden gloves...

 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"

Rey Fortaleza

Reynaldo "Rey" Fortaleza is a former Olympic boxer who represented the Philippines in the 1976 Montreal Olympicsbefore immigrating permanently to Canada in 1990 where he became a community leader and media pioneer.-Early life:...

, Renato "Rene" and Rogelio "Roger". Although Ric was the most successful of the four, Rey, Rene and Roger did have great achievements too.

1972 Munich Olympics

Ricardo represented the Philippines at the 1972 Munich Olympics

1972 Summer Olympics

The 1972 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from August 26 to September 11, 1972....

, losing to Alfonso Zamora

Alfonso Zamora

Alfonso Zamora Quiroz is a former Mexican boxer who fought from 1973 to 1980. Zamora was the silver medalist at the 1972 Munich Olympics. He enjoyed a meteoric rise in his professional career...

 in the preliminaries.

Coaching

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

1992 Summer Olympics

The 1992 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event celebrated in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, in 1992. The International Olympic Committee voted in 1986 to separate the Summer and Winter Games, which had been held in the same...

 in Barcelona

Barcelona

Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...

, the President's Cup in Jakarta

Jakarta

Jakarta is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Officially known as the Special Capital Territory of Jakarta, it is located on the northwest coast of Java, has an area of , and a population of 9,580,000. Jakarta is the country's economic, cultural and political centre...

, the King's Cup in Bangkok, the Southeast Asian Games

Southeast Asian Games

The Southeast Asian Games , is a biennial multi-sport event involving participants from the current 11 countries of Southeast Asia...

 in Singapore

Singapore

Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

, the second World Boxing championships in Belgrade

Belgrade

Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...

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

Schriesheim

Schriesheim is a town located in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, north of Heidelberg on the Bergstrasse and on Bertha Benz Memorial Route. It has a population of about 15,000, Schriesheim is a town located in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, north of Heidelberg on the Bergstrasse ("Mountain Road") and on...

 (Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

), the Acropolis Cup in Athens

Athens

Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...

, and several other international tournaments.

Fortaleza also trained boxers from different parts of the world. He helped introduced the sport of Amateur Boxing in Oman

Oman

Oman , officially called the Sultanate of Oman , is an Arab state in southwest Asia on the southeast coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by the United Arab Emirates to the northwest, Saudi Arabia to the west, and Yemen to the southwest. The coast is formed by the Arabian Sea on the...

, he was assigned at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex

Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex

Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex also known locally as, Boshar , is a government owned multi-purpose stadium in the Boshar district of Muscat, Oman. It is currently used mostly for football matches, and also has facilities for athletics. The stadium originally had a capacity of over 40,000, but after...

. He coached the Oman boxing team between 1986 and 1990, and led the team to the 1988 Olympic Games

1988 Summer Olympics

The 1988 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad, were an all international multi-sport events celebrated from September 17 to October 2, 1988 in Seoul, South Korea. They were the second summer Olympic Games to be held in Asia and the first since the 1964 Summer Olympics...

 in Seoul

Seoul

Seoul , officially the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea. A megacity with a population of over 10 million, it is the largest city proper in the OECD developed world...

, Korea

Korea

Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...

.

Fortaleza acted as boxing coach at Taipei

Taipei

Taipei City is the capital of the Republic of China and the central city of the largest metropolitan area of Taiwan. Situated at the northern tip of the island, Taipei is located on the Tamsui River, and is about 25 km southwest of Keelung, its port on the Pacific Ocean...

 College of Physical Education in Taiwan

Taiwan

Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...

.

Australia

Fortaleza migrated with his family to Australia in 2000. 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 - Theran Iran
• olympian
  Olympic Games
  The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...
  
  - 1972 Munich Olympics
• Philippine's Amateur Boxer of the year - 1970, 1971 and 1972
• Araullo High School's Most Outstanding Alumnus in Sports in 1993