Holy crap... Gamboa.

[Hunter]

It was target practice for Gamboa, I didnt have problem with stoppage....

Born in Marquette Park....live in Lincoln Park..

[Taeth]

Wow he gets hit by one solid shot all night, and he happened to be in precarious position. I think his style allows for him to get knocked down in situations where he isn't hurt at all, however have any of you seen him seriously hurt? Gonzalez hardly was able to land anything, and he might not be the best featherweight in the world, but he used to be a fast batamweight, and he couldn't keep up with Gamboa's speed, not even close. I think in this fight Gamboa showed a lot more caution than he normally does, and most of the time he is so far away from his opponent they couldn't hit him if they tried, not with his reflexes. My main problem is when he comes in like a tornado he leaves his hands down, thats when Jimenez was really able to counter him hard, but Gamboa has been fighting with his hands up a lot more of late, and in this latest fight he was wasn't drawn into a gun battle, he really used his physical advantages successfully. You can't just reduce what he does to athleticism though, some of the footwork he does is incredible, the way he throws punches and stays in balance coming forward the way he does, his head movement, etc, etc. he is a very well schooled fighter who doesn't need to rely purely on his schooling because of that speed.

The big question is, can the top guys hurt him, I don't think knocking him down once will be enough. If he fights the way he did last night, his speed, his strength, and his boxing ability will beat anybody at 126, and maybe as he progresses he will be able to beat anyone a long way up the weight scale.

This makes me all the more frustrated Rigondeaux didn't get out Cuba. He's more cautious, he's the same level of athlete, he actually sits down on his punches, much harder to hit(think Whitaker), better counter puncher, better footwork, southpaw. He would have devoured the pro ranks even guys like Marquez and Vazquez would be absolutely owned by him.

[Hunter]

The couple knockdowns I have seen including yesterday, I think Gamboa was buzzed....They were not flash off balnce knockdowns IMO...but I could be wrong...

Time will tell, but I think the Gamboa experiment will end quickly if he doesnt learn the fundementals and tighten up his defense....

[ICB]

Taeth sorry but speed isn't everything im not sold on him at all, and he certainly ain't the new RJJ. I never see RJJ getting hit with even one solid punch in his prime, let alone getting dropped like a sack almost half a dozen times in only 13 fights.

Yuriorkis Gamboa showed flashes of some technical fighting yesterday, but like i said "Flashes". His concentration in the ring is disappointing, he seems to get bored very easily. Then he starts fighting like a wild animal, diving in with his hands below his waist.

And a good puncher with decent enough countering skills, would be able to time Yuriorkis Gamboa coming in then BOOM. Say goodnight Yuriorkis Gamboa. And he actually did get countered last night thats why he went down, and he did leave many chances for that shot again, even after being knocked down.

And his defense dear me don't even get me started on that, its horrendous and he's a KO waiting to happen. I do like Yuriorkis Gamboa and he's good for the sport with his exciting style, but he seems to me he hasn't naturally got defense on his mind at all. He doesn't fight technical enough and he relies too much on his reflexes. His power is somewhat overrated aswell and he also relies too much on that.

I would like him to hold his hands higher, use the jab more. And fight more technical, when he did do that in spurts he looked very good. And if he did manage to do all those things which i just said, he could be one of the new P4P 10 fighters in a few years.

But as for now im for certain not sold on him and if he carries on, the way he has been carrying on with his cocky attitude in the ring, and his non-existent defense he will be KO'ed.

[Taeth]

Taeth sorry but speed isn't everything im not sold on him at all, and he certainly ain't the new RJJ. I never see RJJ getting hit with even one solid punch in his prime, let alone getting dropped like a sack almost half a dozen times in only 13 fights.

Yuriorkis Gamboa showed flashes of some technical fighting yesterday, but like i said "Flashes". His concentration in the ring is disappointing, he seems to get bored very easily. Then he starts fighting like a wild animal, diving in with his hands below his waist.

And a good puncher with decent enough countering skills, would be able to time Yuriorkis Gamboa coming in then BOOM. Say goodnight Yuriorkis Gamboa. And he actually did get countered last night thats why he went down, and he did leave many chances for that shot again, even after being knocked down.

And his defense dear me don't even get me started on that, its horrendous and he's a KO waiting to happen. I do like Yuriorkis Gamboa and he's good for the sport with his exciting style, but he seems to me he hasn't naturally got defense on his mind at all. He doesn't fight technical enough and he relies too much on his reflexes. His power is somewhat overrated aswell and he also relies too much on that.

I would like him to hold his hands higher, use the jab more. And fight more technical, when he did do that in spurts he looked very good. And if he did manage to do all those things which i just said, he could be one of the new P4P 10 fighters in a few years.

But as for now im for certain not sold on him and if he carries on, the way he has been carrying on with his cocky attitude in the ring, and his non-existent defense he will be KO'ed.

Lou Devalle? Did you see that fight? Roy Jones Jr got hit cleanly by plenty of guys in his career. His chin was underrated. Once again who has landed at a high rate on Gamboa? Just because he doesn't fight like a conventional fighter doesn't mean he isn't technically savy. His footwork is great, his bobbing and weaving is amazing, he throws punches properly(I would like to obviously see him plant more on his hooks, but its his style), and his ring generalship is there. This fight he hardly ever dived in like he used to, and he only did so when he knew Gonzalez wasn't throwing back. Also I am not sure which career you were watching, but the one knockdown that Gamboa has had that wasn't related to balance was an elbow.

Roy Jones Jr didn't keep his hands up, but he barely got hit, last night Gamboa didn't keep his hands up, but he got hit under 20% of the time, if it was even as high as the compubox stated.

As for the jab, he doesn't need it, he is quick enough at getting in that, he doesn't need the jab just like Roy and Floyd used it less as they went up.

Also you talk about mental lapses, but how come everytime(albeit few times) Gonzalez tried to counter, Gamboa was able to evade punches in manner that only somebody who is very sharp would be able to do? He definitely has put on a certain bravado in the past, but it wasn't there last night. He was countered decisively ONCE in a whole fight, Mayweather was countered more than that against slow Baldomir. Mayweather countered plenty on his rise to the top and was hit plenty.

Roy Jones Jr on his way up fought very conservatively(unless his opponent was hurt), he was way bigger than his opponents at 154 so he could entirely control the fight. Roy also didn't take a step up in class until he was quite far into his career, Gamboa has come along much faster.

Gamboa at 22 was fighting in the 112 pound weight division when he won the Olympics, he is fighting 14 pounds north of there.

I definitely see your point of him potentially getting knocked out because of his style, but I don't think its going to happen. There has been too much of a change in his style, he is too fast(with timing), and he is too good of a boxer. You are right ICB that speed isn't everything, but speed doesn't make you the type of amateur he was. He is a lot more than just speed.

Another thing to note is that Gamboa has only been stopped once in his recorded amateur career(over 200+ fights) and it was because he had an injury. And he fought guys a lot bigger than him, at one point he jumped over the batamweight class, and still stopped only once due to injury. If you fight like he does, even in the amateurs if you don't have a good chin, you would have been stopped more than that, expecially against the highest caliber of amateurs in the world.

[ICB]

Taeth sorry but speed isn't everything im not sold on him at all, and he certainly ain't the new RJJ. I never see RJJ getting hit with even one solid punch in his prime, let alone getting dropped like a sack almost half a dozen times in only 13 fights.

Yuriorkis Gamboa showed flashes of some technical fighting yesterday, but like i said "Flashes". His concentration in the ring is disappointing, he seems to get bored very easily. Then he starts fighting like a wild animal, diving in with his hands below his waist.

And a good puncher with decent enough countering skills, would be able to time Yuriorkis Gamboa coming in then BOOM. Say goodnight Yuriorkis Gamboa. And he actually did get countered last night thats why he went down, and he did leave many chances for that shot again, even after being knocked down.

And his defense dear me don't even get me started on that, its horrendous and he's a KO waiting to happen. I do like Yuriorkis Gamboa and he's good for the sport with his exciting style, but he seems to me he hasn't naturally got defense on his mind at all. He doesn't fight technical enough and he relies too much on his reflexes. His power is somewhat overrated aswell and he also relies too much on that.

I would like him to hold his hands higher, use the jab more. And fight more technical, when he did do that in spurts he looked very good. And if he did manage to do all those things which i just said, he could be one of the new P4P 10 fighters in a few years.

But as for now im for certain not sold on him and if he carries on, the way he has been carrying on with his cocky attitude in the ring, and his non-existent defense he will be KO'ed.

Lou Devalle? Did you see that fight? Roy Jones Jr got hit cleanly by plenty of guys in his career. His chin was underrated. Once again who has landed at a high rate on Gamboa? Just because he doesn't fight like a conventional fighter doesn't mean he isn't technically savy. His footwork is great, his bobbing and weaving is amazing, he throws punches properly(I would like to obviously see him plant more on his hooks, but its his style), and his ring generalship is there. This fight he hardly ever dived in like he used to, and he only did so when he knew Gonzalez wasn't throwing back. Also I am not sure which career you were watching, but the one knockdown that Gamboa has had that wasn't related to balance was an elbow.

Roy Jones Jr didn't keep his hands up, but he barely got hit, last night Gamboa didn't keep his hands up, but he got hit under 20% of the time, if it was even as high as the compubox stated.

As for the jab, he doesn't need it, he is quick enough at getting in that, he doesn't need the jab just like Roy and Floyd used it less as they went up.

Also you talk about mental lapses, but how come everytime(albeit few times) Gonzalez tried to counter, Gamboa was able to evade punches in manner that only somebody who is very sharp would be able to do? He definitely has put on a certain bravado in the past, but it wasn't there last night. He was countered decisively ONCE in a whole fight, Mayweather was countered more than that against slow Baldomir. Mayweather countered plenty on his rise to the top and was hit plenty.

Roy Jones Jr on his way up fought very conservatively(unless his opponent was hurt), he was way bigger than his opponents at 154 so he could entirely control the fight. Roy also didn't take a step up in class until he was quite far into his career, Gamboa has come along much faster.

Gamboa at 22 was fighting in the 112 pound weight division when he won the Olympics, he is fighting 14 pounds north of there.

I definitely see your point of him potentially getting knocked out because of his style, but I don't think its going to happen. There has been too much of a change in his style, he is too fast(with timing), and he is too good of a boxer. You are right ICB that speed isn't everything, but speed doesn't make you the type of amateur he was. He is a lot more than just speed.

Another thing to note is that Gamboa has only been stopped once in his recorded amateur career(over 200+ fights) and it was because he had an injury. And he fought guys a lot bigger than him, at one point he jumped over the batamweight class, and still stopped only once due to injury. If you fight like he does, even in the amateurs if you don't have a good chin, you would have been stopped more than that, expecially against the highest caliber of amateurs in the world.

Lou Del Valle was RJJ's sparring partner so he obviously learnt something, out of there many sparring sessions. And as i remember it RJJ slipped on a wet spot, no doubt the punch was a decent punch but it was more to do with the wet spot than anything.

And anyway Lou Del Valle was a good opponent despite what people say, and how can you compare that to Yuriorkis Gamboa ? Yuriorkis Gamboa has been put down by much lesser opponents than Lou Del Valle. And to my knowledge Yuriorkis Gamboa has been put down almost half a dozen times in only 13 fights.

RJJ was put down for a brief second in a world championship fight, that he dominated. RJJ was also defensive minded and only threw punches when he had to. Yuriorkis Gamboa is much more wild and throws alot of punches, he also leaps in with his hands down.

Im sorry but Yuriorkis Gamboa isn't as special at the moment as your making him out to be. He is nowhere near as good as RJJ was, he may have speed/athletism but he makes alot of bad mistakes. That will get him in trouble against the top fighters, he still hasn't fought any of the elite fighters in his weightclass remember that.

And actually Yuriorkis Gamboa should use his jab because he's good with it when he uses it. He keeps his opponent off balance and it sets up his great hooks to the body, the reason Yuriorkis Gamboa didn't get hit at a high percentage. Was because his opponent was averaging only 20+ punches a round. After that knockdown he didn't take any real risks to counter Yuriorkis Gamboa. And he went into a defensive shell mostly trying to survive than win the fight.

Im not trying to diss Yuriorkis Gamboa i like him alot, i stayed up in the early hours just to watch him fight. And i personally like unorthodox speedy fighters like Yuriorkis Gamboa, i just wish he would be more defensive minded at times. And i wish he would get more technical in his approach and stop being so wild.

He is a great talent and like i said if he does improve on the things i said above, he has a chance of becoming a top 10 P4P fighter in the future. But at the moment IMO he's a KO waiting to happen, i don't want it to happen because he's great for the sport, but i just can't see him staying undefeated with that defense and reckless style at times, even with his great talent, speed, athletism.

[Kev]

He's got skills for sure and may be strong enough to win a world title at featherweight.

But if/when he steps up and fights somebody decent who can punch he's getting wrecked sooner than you can say Amir Khan.

He's also not young either, 27 already so I don't see his defence or chin improving much.

He's super exciting to watch and has tremendous skills though.

A future alphabet world champ I reckon but he doesn't have the defense or chin to be great.

I presume he will move up at some stage and if when he comes up against someone like Soto or Valero he's getting sparked.

[CutMeMick]

Of course he'll become a champ he's already lined up for a bout vs. Elio Rojas for the vacant WBC strap...

I wish Abner Mares would move up in weight and kick his ass...
I would love to see that matchup in the future at Feather or Super Feather.

If you look at the Feather div. there is no super star there and no dominant fighter.