Holy crap... Gamboa.

[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.