We now have at least one good reason to be a hardcore boxing fan in April. Undefeated former WBA Lightweight Champion Brandon Rios (29-0-1 with 22 KO?s) will battle undefeated two divisional world champion, Cuban sensation Yuriorkis Gamboa (21-0 with 16 KO?s) on April 14th at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, Nevada. The fight will be televised on HBO. They will be fighting for the vacant WBA Lightweight title that was formerly held by Rios before he was forced to relinquish it on the scales last December. Gamboa will be moving up to the lightweight division after campaigning up and back as a featherweight and super featherweight over the past few years. Gamboa has actually fought above 130 lbs on three occasions but never at the elite level.
The ultra slick and quick Gamboa is coming off a technical decision victory over Daniel Ponce De Leon last September in a fight that ended due to a major cut on De Leon?s forehead subsequent to an unintentional head butt. Gamboa was dominating the fight up until the cut occurred. Rios is coming off an 11th round TKO victory over a super game John Murray. Rios started very slowly and ended strongly which is very impressive considering the fact that he was severely weight drained going into the fight and facing one tough customer. Brandon has displayed enormous heart and toughness seldom seen in the ring at the elite level. Brandon is the kind of fighter that would have to get hit extremely hard below the belt to complain to the referee. He has Mickey Ward and Arturo Gatti like toughness.
As far as punch resistance is concerned, Rios has been down twice in his career, both knockdowns occurring in his 9th pro fight. Gamboa has been down four times throughout his career and as recently as 3 fights ago. At 5?5 ?, the 30 year old Gamboa will be giving up 2 ? inches in height and 3 inches in reach to the naturally bigger 25 year old Rios who began his career one division above Gamboa and seems to have outgrown the lightweight division.
Rios has sought out nutritionist Victor Conte for diet tips on how to properly make the lightweight limit. He will need to be as strong as possible to defeat the super talented Cuban Olympic Gold Medalist. Rios simply cannot match the speed and quickness of Gamboa and will need to utilize great timing and his physicality in order to wear Gamboa down in hopes of forcing Gamboa to fight his fight and winning a war of attrition. Rios would be wise to go to Gamboa?s body early in the fight in order to slow him down for the later rounds. Gamboa would be wise to utilize his superior boxing skills and footwork to dart in and out ala Pacquiao against Margarito. Gamboa must be very careful because he will be facing a naturally bigger and stronger man who undoubtedly walks around in the mid 150?s between fights.
I can envision a couple of different scenarios occurring in this fight. I can see Gamboa fighting a perfect fight and peppering Rios with a profusion of quick combination punches while evading Rios? heavy blows to the head and body on his way to a 12 round decision victory. I can also see Gamboa possibly getting careless and running into a big shot and going down at least once and becoming a little gun shy and Rios being able to will his way to victory. If Gamboa fights a disciplined, careful fight he will win on points. Rios is the slower fighter and is far from elusive. If he allows Rios to get to him and time him, he could find himself in a world of trouble late in the fight. I can?t wait for round one.
