Yuriorkis Gamboa and wasted talents

[ElJefe]

So Gamboa lost to huge underdog Robinson Castellanos (now 24-12). Castellanos' record is deceptive - 10 of those losses came in his first 20 fights. Since then he is 14-2 and has wins over former champion Celestino Caballero and then undefeated prospect Ronny Rios.

Nevertheless, a few years ago it would be almost inconceivable for Gamboa to lose to this level of opponent. From unifying the Featherweight division and winning interim titles at Super-Feather and Lightweight to quitting against Castellanos on Friday Night Fights is quite the fall from grace.

Where did it all go wrong for him? Over-hyped? Badly managed? Unlucky? Just lacked the desire? Where does he rank amongst the other wasted talents of recent years?

(I know this is more of a CS thread but I can't be arsed with the morons that post on there)

[Boxing Prospect]

Horribly mismanaged following the fall out with Arum. People hate Arum but he guides careers brilliantly.

[Stuarty]

Shocked at this result. I thought Gamboa would've had one last run in him. Looks like it's all over now.

[Tanzio]

It all went wrong when he decided that sitting on his ass was better for his career than staying busy, improving his skills, and optimizing his gifts. In the whole trajectory of Gamboa's career I never witnessed improvement. Rather, I witnessed an amazingly gifted athlete make the same mistakes serially, while his natural athleticism eroded (naturally).

[samwbr]

Teofilo Stevenson might just be right about staying put.

[Taansend]

A bigger crime was that we never saw Gamboa v JuanMa Lopez when they were both undefeated & looking half decent.

Would have been a huge fight (without hindsight). Sometime in 2011 would have been a great fight to go to in Miami area.

[davie]

Is it a coincidence that so many Cubans seem to go this way

[Oiky]

All over for Gamboa now

[Taansend]

Is it a coincidence that so many Cubans seem to go this way

You f*cking Cubist

[Andrew]

A bigger crime was that we never saw Gamboa v JuanMa Lopez when they were both undefeated & looking half decent.

Would have been a huge fight (without hindsight). Sometime in 2011 would have been a great fight to go to in Miami area.

Got to marinate mate

[Andrew]

Colossal waste of talent.

It all went downhill after the Ponce De Leon fight. People may have forgotten PDL was robbed against Adrien Broner at a higher weight in his previous fight. From what I recall Gamboa beat him comfortably. But then he didn't fight for 15 months.

I'm sure this was because he aligned himself with 50 cent. It was during this 15 month spell away from boxing he should have been pushing on to be considered p4p top 10 but he would rather not fight at all.

Like someone else mentioned it is a joke Juanma Lopez v Gamboa didn't happen. That has damaged both fighters legacies massively. Arum could have done that but chose not to !

[3132DW]

Is it a coincidence that so many Cubans seem to go this way

Probably because they are all 10 years older than were told.

[davie]

Is it a coincidence that so many Cubans seem to go this way

You f*cking Cubist

You're right, I fvcking hate Picaso

[ElJefe]

A bigger crime was that we never saw Gamboa v JuanMa Lopez when they were both undefeated & looking half decent.

Would have been a huge fight (without hindsight). Sometime in 2011 would have been a great fight to go to in Miami area.

He made a comeback at the end of 2016 didn't he? Genuinely wouldn't be surprised if we saw Gamboa vs JuanMa this year.

"The fight the world has been waiting for" "7 years in the making"

[SaadOffTheDeck]

A bigger crime was that we never saw Gamboa v JuanMa Lopez when they were both undefeated & looking half decent.

Would have been a huge fight (without hindsight). Sometime in 2011 would have been a great fight to go to in Miami area.

Agreed, I wouldn't hate it if they made it now.

[Counter-puncher]

A bigger crime was that we never saw Gamboa v JuanMa Lopez when they were both undefeated & looking half decent.

Would have been a huge fight (without hindsight). Sometime in 2011 would have been a great fight to go to in Miami area.

Got to marinate mate

[PredatorHayds]

A bigger crime was that we never saw Gamboa v JuanMa Lopez when they were both undefeated & looking half decent.

Would have been a huge fight (without hindsight). Sometime in 2011 would have been a great fight to go to in Miami area.

This.
I remember when this was the biggest fight in boxing.
Didn't get made and neither had the career defining fight.
Loved Gamboa. Huge skillset but didn't live the life. He will go down in the annals of professional boxing history as the guy who gave Crawford his coming out party.

[Bricks]

A bigger crime was that we never saw Gamboa v JuanMa Lopez when they were both undefeated & looking half decent.

Would have been a huge fight (without hindsight). Sometime in 2011 would have been a great fight to go to in Miami area.

This.
I remember when this was the biggest fight in boxing.
Didn't get made and neither had the career defining fight.
Loved Gamboa. Huge skillset but didn't live the life. He will go down in the annals of professional boxing history as the guy who gave Crawford his coming out party.

I had no idea crawford had announced his homosexuality