Gamboa V's Lopez

[Hagler2002]

Just watched both their respective fights from Saturday and what a mouthwatering clash we are in for! One things for sure this ain't going the distance

[15829]

i hope gamboa wins, cant wait for this, this will be the fight of the year guarenteed

[dazzer]

lets hope sky get the fight

[Hagler2002]

i hope gamboa wins, cant wait for this, this will be the fight of the year guarenteed

At the moment I'd have to favour Gamboa he looked awesome last night.

[15829]

gamboa wasnt in boxing news top 10 feather weights hope its a mistake

[charlieb]

Gamboa looked as though he was taking his time last night, the gulf in speed was just ridiculous though. There just didn't seem to be a thing Mtagwa could do, got beaten to the punch in almost every exchange. Softening up a guy as tough as Mtagwa by the second round is impressive by anyone's standards.

I have a feeling Gamboa's going to make Lopez look fairly ordinary. Don't get me wrong, Gamboa's got a lot of faults, he doesn't seem to take a punch that well and he does leave himself open, but it'll be a controlled performance against someone as dangerous as Lopez. I could see it being as one-sided as Mayweather/Corrales.

Outside of a lucky punch, it'll take someone cuter than Lopez to derail Gamboa and looking at feather and superfeather, it seems like it'll be smooth sailing for him. I would've said Linares was closest to the mold of fighter that would've caused Gamboa problems but he's out of the picture now so who knows.

I actually think Luevano would've been a tougher opponent than Lopez, weird as that may sound.

I'm certainly not unimpressed with Lopez, he's looked fantastic at times, I just think Gamboa's all wrong for him.

[Evander]

Gamboa looked as though he was taking his time last night, the gulf in speed was just ridiculous though. There just didn't seem to be a thing Mtagwa could do, got beaten to the punch in almost every exchange. Softening up a guy as tough as Mtagwa by the second round is impressive by anyone's standards.

I have a feeling Gamboa's going to make Lopez look fairly ordinary. Don't get me wrong, Gamboa's got a lot of faults, he doesn't seem to take a punch that well and he does leave himself open, but it'll be a controlled performance against someone as dangerous as Lopez. I could see it being as one-sided as Mayweather/Corrales.

Outside of a lucky punch, it'll take someone cuter than Lopez to derail Gamboa and looking at feather and superfeather, it seems like it'll be smooth sailing for him. I would've said Linares was closest to the mold of fighter that would've caused Gamboa problems but he's out of the picture now so who knows.

I actually think Luevano would've been a tougher opponent than Lopez, weird as that may sound.

I'm certainly not unimpressed with Lopez, he's looked fantastic at times, I just think Gamboa's all wrong for him.

Good piece

[15829]

heres a link to gamboas fight



http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php ... 013&ref=nf

[Autobarn]

it'll be a great fight, and arum has been matching his fighters against one anothe,r but i get the feeling that he'll keep gamboa and lopez apart for a while.

lopez was superb to have so coolly broken down steven luevano. i think he's a major fighter now, who's found his true weight and along with the KO of de leon he can be very impressive. i see him going further than cotto, though he had a cotto moment (akin to cotto-torres) when he was hurt late by mtagwa (the mtagwa whom gamboa blew out).

gamboa is impressive, but he's still only got that WBA half belt and he has been down a lot of times. you'd think at 27 or whatever age he is, gamboa needs the fight more. whereas lopez will likely build up a big following in cities with big puerto rican populations, such as new york.

[Counter-puncher]

notwithstanding the quality of Gamboa's performance at the weekend, i can still see him getting caugth hard by counters by a fighter like juanma

[black panther]

it'll be a great fight, and arum has been matching his fighters against one anothe,r but i get the feeling that he'll keep gamboa and lopez apart for a while.

lopez was superb to have so coolly broken down steven luevano. i think he's a major fighter now, who's found his true weight and along with the KO of de leon he can be very impressive. i see him going further than cotto, though he had a cotto moment (akin to cotto-torres) when he was hurt late by mtagwa (the mtagwa whom gamboa blew out).

gamboa is impressive, but he's still only got that WBA half belt and he has been down a lot of times. you'd think at 27 or whatever age he is, gamboa needs the fight more. whereas lopez will likely build up a big following in cities with big puerto rican populations, such as new york.

You're feeling was right:

http://www.fightnews.com/?p=35680

If Juan Manuel Lopez and Yuriorkis Gamboa established themselves as the top two featherweights in the world with impressive wins Saturday night, there seems to be no rush to definitively answer who is number one. It was the second time in four months that Lopez and Gamboa co-headlined a show from the theatre inside New York City’s Madison Square Garden. And for the second time in four months, it was thought to be their penultimate contests en route to a showdown between the two.

However, if promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank is to be believed, there will be considerable more buildup before he puts both men in the ring together.

“Don’t I owe it to my two guys to build this into the biggest fight I can?” asked Arum. “It will be a huge, huge fight, but not right now.”

Gamboa is a special talent but I don't class him as a world champion a such - Chris John is the real WBA champ and no.1 featherweight unless someone proves otherwise by beating him. I think both these guys would beat him, given his struggles with Rocky Juarez but they still should prove it in the ring.

[Datsue]

How many fights have been spoiled when on the back burner? Strike now and make the fight before one of them is defeated.

It is equivalent to you having a stonker, her being extremely wet and you both saying, "We'll just sit tight for a few hours until this bad boy is ready to explode." It may work for Sting but the rest of us have to strike while the iron's hot.

Make the fight FFS.

Damn straight.

It's asking for trouble, keeping two fighters apart like this. Something'll go wrong. Knowing boxing, the pair of them will only end up getting it on when they're both thirty-something, at light-welterweight.

Arum is a knob-bar.

[15829]

How many fights have been spoiled when on the back burner? Strike now and make the fight before one of them is defeated.

It is equivalent to you having a stonker, her being extremely wet and you both saying, "We'll just sit tight for a few hours until this bad boy is ready to explode." It may work for Sting but the rest of us have to strike while the iron's hot.

Make the fight FFS.

couldnt agree more

[ArtOfWar]

Arum was quoted as saying 'I know what the fans want and they can go f**k themselves'.

F**k you to Bob, he's already had a big part in pi$$ing Pac/Floyd up the wall and noew he won't make Gamboa/Lopez. One of them will end up getting beat and the fight will go out the window. It's the boxing way.

[hitman_hatton1]

tbf lopez has only just come on the title scene.

what is he 21, 22.

don't blame bob for holding him back a little.

especially when a fighter as good as gamboa is lurking.

[hitman_hatton1]

f*ck me lopez is 26.

didn't realise that.

no excuses then.

throw him to the wolves.

[ArtOfWar]

Exactly and he came on the scene when he starched Ponce De Leon two years ago. The fight should be made asap, because things have a habit of going tits up when you wait in boxing.

[Datsue]

It is all good building fights but the problem is that there are two sports of boxing. There is the one that we have now, fights which happen while we are building up to the humungous fights (which rarely if ever happen as someone gets derailed/defeated/arrested). There is also the other sport of boxing, in which the big fights get made at the opportune time and we get a raft of fight of the year candidate every couple of months.

Boxing is compelling despite, not because, of itself.

If promoters cannot make clashes between their own top guys then what hope of we got of inter-promotional fights getting made.

I could open a strand listing the current fights that will never get made and the list will be better than what we've had over the past 20 years or so.

Gamboa is good, Cuban, has been boxing since he was in the womb, etc, etc, but he is going to get knocked out at some point. Best for Juan to do it in a superfight than for it to happen in some mid-level meeting with a guy he fully expects to bear.

Christ, I sound jaded.

No, you sound reasonable & sensible.

[Autobarn]

i also thought JML was young. didn't know he was 26.

considering that gamboa is about 27, you'd think neither could afford to miss the biggest available fight.

JML has the puerto rican following (or the potential for a big, cotto or tito like following), so he may not need it. but look at all the big names he missed at 122 - vazquez, marquez, caballero - a deep division also housing hard dudes poonsawat, nishioka and cordoba. lopez faced fornicate-all at 122, though the combined wins he has of PDL (KO1) and luevano (TKO7) are impressive.

[15829]

hbo should pressure arum in to making the fight, why wait there both in their peak now and if 1 loses then it wont be as marketable

[Datsue]

i also thought JML was young. didn't know he was 26.

considering that gamboa is about 27, you'd think neither could afford to miss the biggest available fight.

JML has the puerto rican following (or the potential for a big, cotto or tito like following), so he may not need it. but look at all the big names he missed at 122 - vazquez, marquez, caballero - a deep division also housing hard dudes poonsawat, nishioka and cordoba. lopez faced eff-all at 122, though the combined wins he has of PDL (KO1) and luevano (TKO7) are impressive.

It's becoming the way of the world, though, innit?

Cotto was kept away from the top dogs at 140, & by carefully being matched with a succession of good but faded fighters at welter, & became a mainstream (-ish) big-time box-office god.

I know Trinidad had his faults, but when you look at the list of fighters he beat prior to De La Hoya, the manner in which he beat them & the stage they were at in their careers (& the weights they were fighting at), he makes Cotto look like the meejya phenom he was/is.

Disclaimer: MA Cotto is a good fighter, nothing more, nothing less. My problem is with the hype machine that surrounds & distorts the perception of these fighters, & will try to keep JML & Gamboa apart. I used Cotto as an example because he's Puerto Rican, is a good comparison for what Arum hopes to do with JML, & somebody else mentioned him before me.

[Counter-puncher]

noone else still think Gamboa's too open/ unsound on fundamentals and could easily get caught with a big counter by a fighter like juanma?

having a southpaw right hook as your best punch gives people all kinds of problems, especially those who (a) keep their left hand low and (b) tend to lunge in like Gamboa does..

or is it just me?

i suppose we could say Gamboa fights up/down to the level of his competition, but still.......

[Datsue]

noone else still think Gamboa's too open/ unsound on fundamentals and could easily get caught with a big counter by a fighter like juanma?

having a southpaw right hook as your best punch gives people all kinds of problems, especially those who (a) keep their left hand low and (b) tend to lunge in like Gamboa does..

or is it just me?

i suppose we could say Gamboa fights up/down to the level of his competition, but still.......

Oh, Gamboa is going to get chinned by someone.

But I just want it to happen in a proper big fight like, rather than against Julio Cesar Overlookedez or UndeservingOrientalBlokeDutchboygym 3KBatteryCorpToyotaThailand.

It's a fight I'd love to see (Lopez vs Gamboa, not any of the other two I mentioned).

[glahn]

Who are Gamboa and Lopez going to fight now that we know they're not fighting each other? There is no one around at featherweight. John is fighting Yordan and neither of them are ranked by the WBC or IBF as far as I know, so they're not likely to get shots at those titles. The rest of the division is trash, and there isn't even anyone credible to move up from super bantam.

[Autobarn]

at one point caballero was going to move up to 126 and fight gamboa. but then gamboa went with arum who promised the sport a big fight vs lopez, probably also to save face when juanma almost got stopped by mtagwa.