Last night at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, WBA featherweight champion Yuriorkis Gamboa put on a scintillating show in thoroughly outclassing former title challenger Jorge Solis over four one-sided and electrifying rounds. Scoring five knockdowns in under twelve minutes’ time, Gamboa was in rare form as he controlled the action with his speed and power from his unorthodox attack.
While it did appear that Solis was a bit weight-drained entering the contest, as he had been campaigning in the junior lightweight class for his previous three bouts and looked a bit frail on Saturday night, it was Gamboa’s deadly offensive display that raised the most eyebrows. The Cuban star showed just why he is one of the most gifted talents in the game, dropping Solis once in the second, two times in the third, and twice more in the 4th before referee David Fields wisely halted the action.
<--- Massive slideshow gallery: Gamboa marvels and eyes Lopez while Garcia rolls
For a few years now Gamboa has been linked to WBO featherweight champion Juan Manuel Lopez and the two men came face to face after the contest. Gamboa and Lopez make it a tradition to attend each other’s fights in a spirited effort to continue drumming up interest in a potential face off down the line.
Asked for his future endeavors inside of the ring, Gamboa told HBO’s Max Kellerman that he is ready for any and all challenges and even hinted that he would be willing to move to 130 pounds if necessary. Lopez was more adamant about the fight, stating that neither he nor Gamboa have ever said no to facing one another and that it was up to the powers that be, specially their promoter Top Rank, to make the fight push through.
If a fight between them does come off, logical locales would be either Las Vegas or New York. Gamboa and Lopez both are coming off of victories in Nevada, with the Cuban standout decisioning Orlando Salido at the Palms in September while Lopez stopped Rafael Marquez weeks later at the MGM Grand. Interestingly enough; Lopez’s next assignment is an April 16th duel with Salido in his native Puerto Rico.
It remains to be seen what Gamboa’s next move will be but Saturday night belonged to him.
Garcia rolls on; stops brave Remillard in ten
Featherweight contender Miguel ‘Mikey’ Garcia produced another solid outing in dominating and stopping fellow unbeaten Matt ‘Sharp Shooter’ Remillard inside of ten rounds. From the opening bell you could sense the power advantage that lied in the 23-year old’s hands and he patiently pressed the issue against a brave but outgunned Remillard throughout the night.
Garcia isn’t the flashiest fighter you will ever see but he has heavy hands and finds a way to land leather in abundance downstairs and up. Remillard didn’t have enough pop to keep him off and the rounds soon began mirroring one another, with Garcia picking his gutsy foe off and slowly breaking him down.
In the ninth Garcia scored a pair of knockdowns off of crisp left hands against a fading Remillard. A combination would again floor Matt in the tenth and despite beating the count and surviving the round his corner wisely called the fight in between rounds.
With the victory Garcia moves to 25-0 with 21 knockouts and has scored stoppages in nine of this last ten fights. He picked up the NABO/NABF crown with this victory but he and his team have seemed to hint that they would like a little more time before facing the likes of Lopez and Gamboa.
