Yuryorkis Gamboa

Wow. That was all I could say after watching Gamboa. I’ll say it again. Wow. This past Saturday, the Cyclone from Guantanamo Yuriorkis Gamboa, 20-0, 16 KO’s, went up against Jorge Solis, 40-3-2, 29 KO’s and let’s not mince words here – Gamboa KO’d the hell out Solis.

Gamboa’s KO punching power had me squinting about how quickly he ended the fight. But as I am in the business of really taking a look at a boxer, let’s take a close look at El Ciclon Gamboa.

First, let’s consider his bout with Solis. Again. Wow. Against Solis, Gamboa had earned the IBF title and rightly so, but apparently he lost the title at a mandatory re-weighing. It’s a good thing he didn’t fight 12 rounds because then he would have gone through an additional 8 rounds only to lose the title anyway. But, he did still defend his WBA Featherweight Title.

But let’s get back to a few things that I think Gamboa and even his upcoming opponents can expect.

It’s clear that Gamboa still lacks a boxer’s finishing polish. Gamboa has power and he’s a strong instinctive fighter. He doesn’t back down once he knows he can dominate his opponent. Gamboa gets into an offensive trance. In the opening round, Solis and Gamboa didn’t really show much. Starting in round 2, however, Solis went down twice and it simply got worse. There were indications that Gamboa also has a tendency to hit his opponents behind the head.

In round 3, Solis went down once again with a carefully placed upper cut. And finally, in round 4, Solis went down twice until in the corner, the referee had to stop the Gamboa barrage in the corner and rightly protected Solis. So, I talked about how Solis suffered knockdowns in 3 out of 4 rounds against Gamboa. Solis took a beating and Gamboa emerged with a stone cold look of determination.

Gamboa is a dangerous boxer because his boxing style is relentless, less tactical, but I’d offer that if he ever came up against an opponent that would press him and hang with him in the opening rounds, Gamboa would not easily win the bout and would have to earn the victory by points.

Looking at Gamboa’s fight record out of his 20 bouts, he has only had 4 fights that have gone to decision. Early in his career, he had a 4 round UD against Alexan Manveylan.

In May 2008, Gamboa faced Darling Jimenez. In this bout, Gamboa went down in the 4th round, but eventually earned the 10 round UD. Nearly two years later in March 2010, Gamboa found against Jonathan Victor Barros, with Barros going down in the 8th round, but Gamboa eventually earned the 12 round UD.

Finally, in September 2010, Gamboa faced Orlando Salido and eventually earned the 12 round UD as well. Against Salido, Gamboa went down once in round eight and was deducted two points at once in round 12. Salido had been down twice in the twelfth round. All others, his 16 other bouts, have been ended by TKO or KO.

One other point, in his bout against Solis, the IBF title was vacant, but I don’t quite understand the stubborn logic of a boxer that refuses to weigh in under IBF rules. Although he won the bout, Gamboa refused to weigh in since the WBA does not require a boxer to weigh in for a second time. So, Gamboa has rightly earned a title and he refuses to weigh in? It’s part of what means to be a professional. The rules to earn the title and all the work put into preparing for a fight, you deem a 2nd re-weigh as unnecessary?

As boxing fans love tried and true KO boxers, those KO boxers who have a history of ending fights by KO are perceived as fierce and unstoppable. But pit the KO puncher against a more tactical and technical fighter, the KO puncher’s weaknesses come to light.

At 29, Gamboa has yet to hit his prime, but really, he is unstoppable. But I’d argue that with boxers being particular about opponents that are dangerous like Gamboa, he may not have as ready a pool of competitors to tussle with him. In fact, he may be ready to face anyone, but will anyone willingly go up against Gamboa?

After the bout, Juan Manuel Lopez, 30-0, 27 KO’s appeared in the ring to congratulate Gamboa. Lopez vs Gamboa would be a great matchup.

Currently, Lopez is the #1 ranked featherweight, followed by Gamboa, ranked #2, and rounding out the top 3, Indonesia’s Chris John, 44-0-2, 22 KO’s remains in the mix. John somehow does not fit into the equation as an option for either Lopez or Gamboa.

Lopez is the current WBO Featherweight titleholder and has successfully defended his title three times last year in 2010. Lopez is set to face Orlando Salido, 34-11, 22 KO’s in April this year for his 4th title defense of the WBO belt.

As for John, he would definitely do well with a bout against either fighter. Unfortunately for John, he remains fighting in Indonesia and he should seriously consider taking on either Lopez or Gamboa. John is set to fight against Daud Yordin, 27-1, 21 KO’s in April to defend his WBA Super World featherweight belt.

Gamboa’s stature shows an untouchable confidence. Solis acknowledged Gamboa’s power and used the Manny Pacquiao measure. Gamboa has no shortage of options right now, but he should surely be working on getting better. Gamboa has already shown his promise and potential, it’s now only a matter of time, and with a little fine tuning of his already natural ability, he becomes a more creative, tactical and intelligent fighter. Work in his own style, and yes, Gamboa will take on the whole featherweight division and decidedly win.

Victor Ortiz vs Andre Berto

It's hard to understate the electricity created by welterweight hopefuls Victor Ortiz and Andre Berto last night. Squaring off inside of the MGM Grand Theatre of Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket, Connecticut, the 24-year old Ortiz pulled off a very unlikely victory in dropping Berto twice on his way towards an action-packed twelve round triumph.
 
With the upset Ortiz now lays claim to the WBC welterweight title that Berto once held and fulfills much of the promise that was bestowed upon him years earlier. The Oxnard, California transplant had to show much grit along the way, surviving a pair of knockdowns of his own from the stout-punching Berto and it's safe to say that this fight exceeded our expectations.
 
Reaching out to boxing historian Bert Sugar for our weekly column, I decided to take a look at what this victory means for Ortiz and how devastating of a loss this was for Berto. While I knew that Sugar, who analyzes the sport from top to bottom, almost certainly had checked the fight out I had to ask just to make sure.
 
"Yes, in fact I'm watching it a second time right now," Sugar opened up. "I thought it was an exciting, exciting fight. It's what boxing needed. It's exactly what boxing needed."
 
Ortiz came into the fight against Berto with a 28-2-2 record with 22 knockouts and despite his vast array of skills the public still hadn't completely forgiven him for his 6th round TKO loss to Marcos Maidana a few years back, a fight in which Ortiz appeared to say 'No mas' once the Argentinean turned up the pressure. Adding to it, Ortiz was moving up in weight for this fight and was a definite underdog yet Sugar seemed to recognize ahead of time just how dangerous he could be come fight night.
 
"I gave it to him in the early rounds," Sugar continued. "I thought he could get off fast. I've always been questioning Berto's balance. And Ortiz just fought a brilliant fight. He was possessed and he just came on and on."
 
When asked what else stood out about the contest, Sugar showed his disappointment to referee Michael Ortega, who he felt did a porous job of officiating the bout, with included a knockdown by Ortiz in the first, a return knockdown from Berto in round two, and each man again trading knockdowns in a raucous sixth round.
 
"That first knockdown, which was a knockdown, then the referee I thought did a poor job, at best, all through the fight. He broke the fighters too quickly. Ortiz would always have an arm free and he would break them. Berto moves his head so that you can only hit him in the back of the head half the time. And Ortega just kept breaking them and warning them," said Sugar.