By Cliff Rold
Both fans and skeptics alike abound for rising Featherweight star Yuriorkis Gamboa. On Friday night at Buffalo Bill's Star Arena in Primm, Nevada, both sides got new fodder for debate. The 27-year old Gamboa (13-0, 11 KO), 126, picked up his third straight by knockout but came off the floor to do it. 30-year old Roger “Speedy” Gonzalez (27-3, 18 KO), 127 ½, simply didn’t have the firepower to keep him on the deck nor the athletic ability to endanger the hot prospect more than once, failing by seconds to hear the bell for the tenth and final round.
It was the end of a perfect knockout night for a trio of Cuban defectors with great Amateur credentials, and Gamboa was clearly the star of the show for an enthusiastic crowd.
The 2004 Cuban Olympic Flyweight Gold Medalist came out patient, his blazing hands evident even if not displayed in volume. Gonzalez’s veteran experience allowed him not to be impressed as he calmly followed the younger man. Early in the second, it paid off. His hands low and defense loose, Gamboa left his chin hanging and found himself on the wrong end of a perfectly timed right hand, rocking him and forcing his gloves to keep him from the floor. It was the fourth knockdown of Gamboa’s career.
As he’s done every time dropped, Gamboa came off the floor with fire, settling quickly and finding his offense. Concentrating on the body, Gamboa was able to trap Gonzalez later in the round with a torrent of blows only for Gonzalez to tie him up and push the fight back to ring center. In the third, Gamboa stayed on the offensive though Gonzalez made him work, keeping his defense tight and absorbing Gamboa’s flurries on his gloves and arms.
In the fourth, Gamboa started by forcing Gonzalez to the ropes and again found his best shots stunted by the defense of Gonzalez. Waving Gamboa in, Gonzalez sought another single, perfect shot to shift the momentum of the bout. Just past the halfway mark, Gamboa changed tactics, firing single shots to openings with a hard right to the body and then a lead left hook. Moving constantly from side to side, his head never still, Gamboa kept his hands in constant motion and left Gonzalez no room to throw.
Firing sometimes once, sometimes three a time, Gamboa appeared fully settled into a rhythm at the start of round five. The rhythm produced a dazzling highlight early in the sixth as Gamboa landed a shard lead left, stepped all the way around Gonzalez, and finished with two clean shots to the body.
In round seven, one could begin to wonder if Gonzalez was measuring victory in going the distance. Hardly offering any offense, he absorbed multiple blows in combination along the ropes in the final thirty seconds, beginning with the left and right hooks which sent him to the strands. Slipping the closing shots in the Gamboa salvo, Gonzalez pointed to his heart when signaling to the ref he was okay and then again waved Gamboa in for more.
Another rapid fire stream of blows targeted Gonzalez to start the eighth but again he continued to cover and trudge forward. As round nine got underway, Gonzalez answered the call of his corner for some leather of his own with an attempted right hand but little else as Gamboa continued to out throw and outland him in a fashion which could realistically have been 3-1.
The end came in the closing moments of the tenth. After a first minutes where Gonzalez had continued to come forward, continued to taunt Gamboa to hit him with more, Gamboa obliged with prejudice. The round half gone, Gamboa connected with a precision right uppercut along the ropes and then two clean lefts in a multi-punch flurry. Gonzalez stepped off the ropes and nearly fell into referee Robert Byrd as he went into full retreat to avoid a stoppage defeat.
Gamboa simply stalked, his hands loose near his waist, waiting for the next defensive hole to shot through. A lead right to the body led to a soft step backwards before Gamboa leapt in with a crushing left hook to the chin. Gonzalez fired back bravely but missed. Shaking his head as if to say Gamboa could not finish him, Gamboa ended a mostly blocked combination with a right uppercut that broke through and sent Gonzalez stepping back towards the ropes again. A straight right would land next and then a left hook before Gonzalez could set his arms tight in defense again. Byrd jumped in, having seen enough, and denied the moral victory Gonzalez was allowing himself to be punished towards. The official time was 2:12 of round number ten.
The featured undercard attraction kept the Cuban flavor flowing as the bulk of American fans got their first look at former 28-year old Amateur standout Odlanier Solis (13-0, 9 KO)…and the highly touted Heavyweight prospect certainly gave them plenty to look at. There were conflicting reports on Solis’s weight coming in, the televised broadcast announcing him an early career high of 259 ½ while published reports from Thursday’s weigh-in listed him at 246. Either way, the loose rolls of flesh on his sides indicated a man at less than peak condition.
The weight didn’t keep him from the winners circle and fans got a look at a varied skill set as well, fast hands and timed offense groomed in capturing two World Amateur titles and a 2004 Olympic Gold Medal at the 201 lb. Heavyweight limit and a 2005 World title in the unlimited Super Heavyweight unpaid class. 26-year old Kevin Burnett (13-2, 8 KO), 253, of Augusta, Georgia had little answer for those skills and succumbed in eight.
Opening with a hard right to the body, and another to the head, Solis made his presence known right away in the first. His chin tucked and hands held in high defense, Solis stunned Burnett and followed with an echoing flurry. Burnett weathered the early storm and responded with his own hard flurry a minute later, ripping a right uppercut through the guard of Solis. The closing seconds were measured as Burnett popped the jab and Solis calmly lurked outside.
Solis continued to stalk in the second but did little to create openings with a jab. Burnett picked off the single lead rights and lefts through the first minute, still jabbing and locking Solis up when he closed the gap. At the halfway point, the tactic failed and Solis blasted through with a hard left hook. As the round ended, Burnett was able to clip Solis with some long rights to make clear he was in the fight.
The faster hands of Solis were on display immediately in round three and Solis fought as if Burnett keeping in the fight was something he wanted to end. Hurting Burnett with a right, he trapped the American on the ropes and opened up with both hands but couldn’t sustain the assault for the full three minutes.
The pattern continued from rounds four through seven, Solis picking his pots, taking the occasional shot but never rushing. In the eighth, a couple of flurries continued to wear Burnett down and, after a brief time out to replace Burnett’s dislodged mouthpiece, the American met his end. A lead left hook shook Burnett and Solis alternated right and left for five more concussive blows to the head. Burnett never went down but he was out on his feet and referee Jay Nady mercifully ended it at 2:00 of the eighth.
In the televised opener, 25-year old Cuban 2005 World Amateur Welterweight champion Erislandy Lara (3-0, 2 KO), 154, needed only a single round to make a successful U.S. Jr. Middleweight debut against 30-year old Rodrigo Aguiar (5-4, 3 KO), 157, of Las Vegas Nevada. The fast-handed southpaw was dominant from the opening second, firing in combination behind an accurate right jab. The punch opened up a straight left, visibly wobbling Aguiar in the closing seconds. The same combination would land flush again as Aguiar collapsed to the floor at the bell. He rose before referee Joe Cortez could reach the count of ten but was in no shape to continue. The official time of the stoppage was 3:00 of the first.
Lara may best be remembered by U.S. fight fans not for his recent successful defection from Cuba but an unsuccessful attempt in 2007. Along with former Olympic Gold Medalist Guillermo Rigondeaux, Lara attempted to defect in 2007 through Brazil only to be caught and returned to the island. From the brief showing tonight, fight fans can be glad he made it free the second time around.
The card was televised in the United States on ESPN2’s Friday Night Fights, promoted by Arena-Box Promotions.
Cliff Rold is a member of the Ring Magazine Ratings Advisory Panel and the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com