Boxing In America: Yuriorkis Gamboa vs. Jorge Solis

One of the sport’s flashiest champions is making a title defense tonight as Cuban speedster Yuriorkis Gamboa puts his WBA and IBF feather trophies up for grabs against Interim WBA super feather ruler Jorge Solis at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City.

Gamboa, 19-0 (15), has covered a lot of ground in his four year pro career, winning the WBA featherweight strap in 2009, defending it three times and adding the vacant IBF bauble to the collection in his most recent action, a thrilling bout with Orlando Salido in September.

Mexican veteran Solis, 40-2-2 (29), to date has only lost during a 2007 WBC International title bout at super feather to Manny Pacquiao and 2009 IBF feather title fight to Cristobal Cruz, with Solis competitive in both cases.

Gamboa has amazingly fast hands and relies on a very good and fluid offense to keep opponents from punching back much but when they do, the former amateur star has been shown to have a very leaky defense.

And when he does get caught with a good shot, the champion has an alarming habit of getting canvassed, as he been on at least four occasions in his career, but Gamboa has always gotten back up and either stopped or outboxed the offending opponent.

Solis is a much more conventional boxer who likes to use his height and jab to keep opponents at bay. The Guadalajara resident has a good left hook to the body but Gamboa will test Solis’s ability to counterpunch in the face of an unending stream of punches.

Gamboa is as fast and streaky as Solis is solid and steady and the fighter who can make the other fight at his own pace will likely come out on top.

Salido had success against Gamboa at times behind relentless pressure but had to absorb much punishment, particularly in the later rounds. Solis doesn’t come forward as much as Salido and isn’t as quick. It’s doubtful he’ll be able to impose his will upon Gamboa.

But Solis is a very patient, methodical fighter and if he can get to grips with the style and speed of Gamboa, he could punch thru the holes in the champion’s defense and that is really the chance Solis has in this one.

If he can hurt the chinny Cuban and improve upon his work, Solis could do what no one else has done and that is halt Gamboa but he’ll have to prove he can avoid the stormy offense from “El Ciclon de Guantanamo” or at least take an awful lot of big punches along the way.

The undercard has a couple of good fights as two undefeated featherweights tangle, along with a contest between a pair of unbeaten super bantams.

NABF/NABO feather beltholder Matt Remillard, 23-0 (13), squares off with heavy-handed ex-USBA strap owner Miguel Angel Garcia, 24-0 (20), and this should be a good between two young guns on the way up.

Despite Remillard holding the titles, it’s Garcia who has gone in with a more experienced grade of competition but make no mistake, this is a 50-50 clash that either boxer could win.

USBA super bantam king Teon Kennedy, 16-0-1 (7), faces the challenge of Jorge Diaz, 15-0 (9), in another contest between up and coming prospects.

This one has a local rivalry factor as Kennedy is from Philadelphia and Diaz hails from North Jersey. Notable common opponent between theses two includes Lante Addy, who held Kennedy to a draw while losing to Diaz. Could this be a significant indicator to tonight’s fight?