By Mark Vester
At Buffalo Bill’s Resort & Casino at Primm, Nevada, 2004 Olympic Games gold medalist, Yuriorkis Gamboa (15-0, 13 KOs) stopped Jose “Cheo’’ Rojas (25-7-1, 17 KOs, 1 No Decision) in the tenth round to capture the vacant WBA interim featherweight title.
During the first three rounds, Gamboa battered Rojas with lightning fast combinations. By the fourth, Rojas' entire right eye was badly swollen. In the fifth, Gamboa put Rojas down in flash knockdown fashion with a shot that appeared to hit the chest. By the end of the eight round, Rojas' corner was concerned whether or not he could see from his right eye. He was very slick and made Gamboa miss often, but didn't have enough power or speed to do much of anything. The beating continued until the tenth when the ref had seen enough and stopped the fight.
The broadcast team at Showtime, during the live telecast touched on the ridiculous decision by the WBA to make this an interim title fight, and likely make Gamboa the full champion, since the WBA is going to upgrade Chris John to the status of "super champion" - even though John is not a unified champion and not injured.
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