Yuriorkis Gamboa & the Featherweight Boxing Tale

By Gina L. Caliboso

With all the what-if hype behind Pacquiao vs. Mayweather, or rather, with all the talk about their fight and NOTHING happening, I’d like to take a look at the featherweight division. I’m tired of the welterweights. I’m tired of the light welterweights. Let’s just all take a look at the featherweight division for a moment because on March 3rd, #1 ranked featherweight Yuriorkis Gamboa, 21-0, 16 KO’s is set to fight against Rocky Juarez, 28-9-1, 20 KO’s.

One week later, Juan Manuel Lopez (Juanma) will be facing Orlando Salido on March 10th. Yes, RSR fans, it seems that Gamboa and Juanma seem to be suffering from a case of ducking.

At 30 years old with his debut in 2007, Gamboa has few fights under his belt. It surprised me that Gamboa is currently listed as a Top Rank fighter because I would suspect that he shouldn’t have a problem getting fights. But I’ll address this point later.

Currently, Gamboa is ranked #1 in the featherweight division. His record is incredible, standing at 21-0, 16 KO’s. Unfortunately, Gamboa is also without titles. In 2011, he had his WBA Super Champion title status stripped when he refused to defend his IBF title against Jorge Solis, 40-4, 29 KO’s on March 26th last year. Gamboa also failed to show for a 2nd required IBF weigh in and stripped of his IBF title as well. Gamboa ended up with an 4th round TKO against Solis. Solis had been down twice in the second, once in the third, and twice in the fourth round.

Later, in September 2011, Gamboa fought against Daniel Ponce De Leon, 41-4, 34 KO’s with the bout ending with an 8th round TD due to Ponce De Leon suffering an accidental laceration due to a clash of heads.

Now, on March 3rd, Gamboa is set to fight against the wily and entertaining Rocky Juarez. Juarez has always been a fun fighter to watch because he is a work horse of a fighter. Juarez loves to brawl, but considering his last few fights, he really isn’t much of a threat anymore. But he could match up well against Gamboa on that level alone. I don’t think Juarez has the stuff to really hurt Gamboa. Juarez’s last win was back in 2008, followed by a draw against Indonesian Chris John, 46-0-2, 22 KO’s in February 2009.

Juarez went on to fight John again in September 2009, but lost in a 12 round UD. In 2010, Juarez fought against up and coming Jason Litzau and lost in a 7th round TD. He later fought against Jorge Linares in July 2010, but lost again in a 10 round UD. Juarez didn’t fare any better in 2011, losing to Alejandro Sanabria in a 12 round UD followed by a 12 round UD against Vicente Escobedo in September 2011. Juarez is a brawler to watch, but he may have reached the end of his boxing career.

Gamboa is currently listed as a fighter with Top Rank. And, I suppose this is where the confusion lies. There’s another fighter that would be the common sense, or rather, the best fight for Gamboa to possibly pursue. Gamboa should match up rather well against ANOTHER Top Rank fighter, Juan Manuel Lopez, 31-1, 28 KO’s. The Puerto Rican southpaw would make for a great fight against Gamboa.

JuanMa is currently ranked #4 among featherweights. In March, Lopez is scheduled to fight against Mexican Orlando Salido, 37-11-2, 25 KO’s for the WBO Featherweight title. Back in April 2011 against Salido, Lopez suffered his one and only loss with a TKO standing at 1:30 in the 8th round. At that point in the fight, all three judges had the bout scored at 66-66. Lopez perhaps has a bit of unfinished business. Lopez needs to set his mind at peace and defeat Salido.

I offered that perhaps Gamboa and Lopez may be ducking each other, but considering both fighters are represented by Top Rank, it could be there isn’t much high stakes money fight each other. The only viable opponent for either fighter could be against Chris John, represented by Golden Boy. Sadly, Chris John remains well hidden outside the US, with most of his bouts in Indonesia. John’s last bout was against Juarez in Las Vegas. John is scheduled to fight on March 31 to defend his WBA Super World Featherweight title against a yet to be named opponent.

So, the featherweight division is now looking like any other weight division in boxing. The top fighters are fighting, just not against each other – sad but true. For now, I just want some good fights and hopefully, the featherweight tale will continue this year with any of the three fighters Gamboa, Lopez, and John stepping up to fight in order to truly determine the true featherweight champion.