Tag Archives: yuriorkis

Posted on 10/17/2019

By: Hans Themistode

After making a move to the Lightweight division, former Super Featherweight champion Gervonta Davis (22-0, 21 KOs) will be waisting no time as he will fight for a world title in his next fight.

After struggling to make weight at the Super Featherweight division for quite some time, Davis earlier this year, decided it was best for him to move up to a new weight and relinquish his title in the process.

On December 28th, he will attempt to become a two weight world champion when he takes on former belt holder Yuriorkis Gamboa (30-2, 18 KOs). The bout is believed to be taking place at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta, although there is an outside chance that New York could be in play as well.

For Gamboa, this is an opportunity he has been clamoring for. It has been over six years since he has held a world title. Now, he will get the chance to once again reclaim gold. Those aspirations however, seem farfetched at this point in the career of Gamboa.

At one point the Cuban born Gamboa was considered a pound for pound star. His future shined as bright, if not brighter, then anyone’s in the sport of boxing. Unfortunately, he was never quite able to reach his full potential.

Ongoing managerial issues saw Gamboa suffer from plenty of inactivity. In both 2012 and 2013, the former champion stepped into the ring just once. The following year, 2014, saw Gamboa face his toughest opponent ever. Terence Crawford.

The bout was in no means a one sided affair. At least not at first. Through the first three rounds, Gamboa was clearly outboxing his man. To the credit of Crawford he quickly adjusted his game plan and began to pick Gamboa apart. What ensued was four knockdowns and a ninth round stoppage. Gamboa had since rebounded to win three straight bouts before once again losing by stoppage, this time at the hands of Robinson Castellanos.

For what it’s worth, Gamboa is currently on a four fight win streak, including a stoppage win over another former champion in Roman Martinez.

In the case of Davis, he has quickly rose to become one of boxing’s biggest stars. His one punch knockout power has aided him in that effort. In 2017, Davis stopped then unbeaten champion Jose Pedraza in the seventh round of their title clash. It has been years since Davis has fought anyone even remotely respectable.

This matchup pits two fighters going in opposite directions. Davis is a budding star who has yet to fully unlock all of his potential. Gamboa on the other hand, at the age of 37, has already seen his time pass. Although he has never been seen as a push over at any point in his career, one must think that this is a bad matchup for him.

This contest will be contested for the vacant WBA “Regular” Lightweight title. The winner of this bout will be in the mandatory position to take on arguably the current pound for pound best fighter in the world, Vasiliy Lomachenko.

Posted on 05/06/2017

Yuriorkis Gamboa Quits On Stool
By: Sean Crose

Yuriorkis Gamboa (26-1)looked to reignite interest in his somewhat stagnated career on Friday when he faced Robinson Castellanos (23-12) in front of ESPN cameras at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas.

The ten round lightweight bout came during one of the biggest fight weekend’s of the year, as the Canelo-Chavez Jr megabout was going down in town around 24 hours later. It was, no doubt, Gamboa’s chance to get back in the limelight after a crushing loss to Bud Crawford nearly three years earlier.

Gamboa started in relaxed, confident form. Castellanos was in to win, but Gamboa clearly controlled the tempo.

What’s more, the second round was similar to the first. Gamboa slipped early in the third, then was dropped for real late in the round. Credit ringside analyst Teddy Atlas for sounding the warning bell on that one. He had been adamantly pointing out Gamboa’s weak spots since just after the opening bell had rung. He had also predicted Castellanos possibly giving Gamboa trouble.

Sure enough, Gamboa went down again in the fourth. He got up and survived the round, but heading into the middle of the fight, Gamboa certainly wasn’t looking good. He started uping the heat in the fifth, but it was clear Castellanos could drop – and possibly knock out – his man should the opportunity arise. Gamboa continued to throw shots in the sixth, but they were generally arm punches. In the seventh, however, Gamboa started to effect his opponent with power shots. It was clear that he could still carry the night, provided he fought well and consistently throughout the remainder of the bout.

Then, shockingly, Gamboa decided to quit rather than answer the bell for the eighth round. He could have won the fight, he didn’t even seem hurt, but Gamboa had decided enough was enough.

Still, no one knew if there was some damage the man was facing that couldn’t be seen at ringside or on a television screen. Regardless, is was a bad turn for a man whose career had once held such promise. It’s easy to write fighters like Gamboa off, but not always wise to. With that in mind, Gamboa’s career is certainly not in a great place at the moment.

Earlier in the evening, middleweight Yamaguchi Falcao (12-0) won a ten round decision over Morgan Fitch (18-0-1). Also, Featherweight Abraham Lopez (20-0-1) was stopped by Jesus M Rojas (24-1-2) in the eighth round of a scheduled ten rounder.

Posted on 03/09/2017

HBO Boxing After Dark Preview: Lemieux vs. Stevens, Gamboa vs. Alvarado
By: William Holmes

On Saturday night David Lemieux and Curtis Stevens will meet in the main event of an HBO Boxing After Dark card in the active and exciting middleweight division. This bout will take place at the Turning Stone Resort Casino live in Verona, New York.

Yuriorkis Gamboa, and recent Golden Boy Promotions signee, will be fighting in the co-main event of the night and will be facing Rene Alvarado in the junior lightweight division.

Several other high level prospects will be fighting on the untelevised undercard, including boxers such as Zachary Ochoa, Diego De La Hoya, and Damon Allen Jr.

The following is a preview of both of the televised bouts.

Yuriorkis Gamboa (25-1) vs. Rene Alvarado (24-7); Junior Lightweight

Gamboa has been very inactive since he left Top Rank Promotions to sign with the short lived boxing promotional company ran by 50 Cent. He only fought once in 2015 and did not fight at all in 2016. He’s since signed with Golden Boy Promotions and looks to get his career back on track, and Golden Boy has picked the perfect opponent for him to shake off the ring rust.

Alvarado is seven years younger than Gamboa and will have an inch and a half height advantage as well as a seven inch reach advantage. He also fought twice in 2016 and five times in 2015 and has been considerably more active than Gamboa. However, his advantages stop there.

Gamboa has seventeen knockout victories while Alvarado has sixteen. Gamboa went 4-1 in his past five fights with only one stoppage victory while Alvarado went 2-3 in his past five fights.

Gamboa clearly has the better professional and amateur resume. He’s a former Olympic Gold Medalist and has defeated the likes of Hylon Williams Jr., Darleys Perez, Daniel Ponce De Leon, Jorge Solis, Orlando Salido, Jonathan Victor Barros, and Jose Rojas.

The only big win of Alvarado’s career was against Jayson Velez. He has losses to the likes of Manuel Avila, Andrew Cancio, Joseph Diaz, Eric Hunter, Rocky Juarez, Jezreel Corrales, and Orlando Rizo.

The inactivity would be a bigger concern for Gamboa if he was facing a tougher opponent, but Alvarado lost to nearly every big name opponent he has ever faced and Saturday will be no different.

David Lemieux (36-3) vs. Curtis Stevens (29-5); Middleweight

Lemieux and Stevens are both hard hitting middleweights with knockout power who put on exciting fights for their fans. They both also suffered stoppage defeats to the current middleweight kingpin, Gennady Golovkin.

This is a must win fight for both boxers if they want to fight for a world title in the near future. Lemieux will have about a two and a half inch height advantage but will be giving up an inch and a half in reach to Stevens. Lemieux is three years younger than Stevens and has been more active. Lemieux fought twice in 2015 and twice in 2016 while Stevens fought twice in 2016 and zero times in 2015.

They both has successful amateur careers as Lemieux was a three time Canadian Amateur Champion while Stevens was the 2002 US Amateur Light Heavyweight Champion.

Lemieux and Stevens are both known for their power, but Lemieux has to be given the edge in this department. He has stopped thirty two of his opponents while Stevens has stopped twenty one. They both can be stopped as Stevens was stopped twice in his career while Lemieux has two stoppage losses.

Lemieux has beaten the likes of Glen Tapia, Hasan N’Dam N’Jikam, Gabriel Rosado, Hernando Guerrero, Jose Miguel Torres, Elvin Ayala, and Hector Camacho Jr. His losses were to Gennady Golovkin, Jachim Alcine, and Marco Antonio Rubio.

Stevens has defeated the likes of James De La Rosa, Patrick Teixeira, Tureano Johnson, Patrick Majewski, Saul Roman, Elvin Ayala, and Darnell Boone. His losses were to losses to Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam, Gennady Golovkin, Jesse Brinkley, Andre Dirrell, Marcos Primera (later avenged).

This could be a very entertaining fight, but Lemieux has the stronger amateur background, appears to be the stronger puncher, and has been considerably more active than Stevens recently. Stevens could win by stoppage, but momentum is on Lemieux’s side.