Two dynamic, undefeated fighters, apparently headed on a collision
course, each impressed with victories in their
championship winning performances at New York's Madison
Square Garden on HBO 'Boxing After Dark." The
doubleheader at "The Mecca of Boxing" showcased
Cuba's
Yuriorkis Gamboa defending his WBA Featherweight title
against Tanzania's Rogers Mtagwa, and Puerto Rico's Juan
Manuel Lopez challenging for Steven Luevano's WBO
Featherweight belt.
In the opening
televised fight, Cuba's Gamboa (16-0 with 14 KOs)
nicknamed "El Ciclon de Guantanamo" (The Guantanamo
Cyclone) was making the second defense of his WBA
Featherweight crown against the rugged Rogers Mtagwa
(26-13-2 with , 18 KOs), who was coming off a near upset of
Luan Manuel Lopez in his last fight.
Enjoying a 7-inch
reach advantage on the champion, the Tanzanian tried to
use his advantage by keeping the fight at a distance, but
Gamboa's hand speed set the fight's tempo from the start.
Countering with lightning quick combinations to both the
head and body, the champion seemed to stager his opponent
whenever he landed his punches.
With only seconds
remaining in round one, Mtagwa found himself on the
canvas courtesy of a powerful left hook to the forehead
landed by Gamboa. The bell ending the round saved Mtagwa,
but it was evident that Gamboa's power and speed of hand
would provide too large an obstacle for the challenger to
overcome.
The second round
spelled "finis" for the challenger, as the Cuban showed
why his moniker of "El Ciclon" was well deserved by
landing several combinations with lightning precision that
had Mtagwa in retreat and on wobbly legs. A 4-punch
combination by Gamboa dropped a hurt Mtagwa with one minute
to go in the round. The referee's mandatory 8-count only
delayed the inevitable, as Gamboa landed several powerful,
lightning quick combinations, the final one landing as the
challenger collapsed in a corner of the ring. The referee,
Steve Smoger, did not bother to count, mercifully ending
the action at 2:35 of the second round.
With the spectacular
performance, Gamboa, the former highly decorated Cuban
amateur star, not only retained his WBA featherweight crown
but established himself as perhaps the most feared fighter
in his division. In what was most likely the best
performance of his professional career, Gamboa exhibited
the patience and skill of a true professional, unlike the
wild punching, out-of-balance fighter he was earlier in his
career.
In the co-feature main
event, Puerto Rico's Juan Manuel "Juanma" Lopez (27-0
with 24 KOs) , the reigning WBO Super Bantamweight
champion, moved up in weight to challenge Steven Luevano
(37-1-1 with 15 KOs) for his WBO Featherweight crown.
The popular southpaw
Lopez, the pride of Puerto Rico fighting in front of a
large contingent of his countrymen, fought evenly with the
champion from the start with his excellent jab and
occasional body punching. The defending champion Luevano,
also fighting from the southpaw stance, displayed good
boxing skills, an educated right hand jab and a strong chin
while making his 6th title defense of the crown
he won in July 2007.
However, his lack of
punching power would eventually be his undoing, as the
harder punching Puerto Rican began to slowly brake him down
with strong combinations to the head and body. The fight
would be decided at the start of the 7th round
as a hard uppercut to the jaw by Lopez hurt the champion.
With a stunned Luevano obviously hurt, a follow-up 3-punch
combination by the Puerto Rican challenger drops the
champion in a neutral corner. Upon getting up, referee
Benjy Estevez Jr., realizes that Luevano is unable to
continue and wisely stops the fight at 44-seconds of the
round.
The win earned Lopez
his second title in different weight classes, adding the
newly acquired Featherweight crown to his previous title in
the Super Bantamweight division.
Let's
Get This One On
The dominant victories
by both Juan Manuel Lopez and Yuriorkis Gamboa appears to
be a prelude to a likely encounter later in the year
between the two most spectacular, powerful punchers in
boxing's lighter weight divisions. The logical venue for
a Gamboa-Lopez fireworks spectacular seems to be at
Madison Square Garden in New York, where Lopez's rabid
Puerto Rican fans and Gamboa's equally supportive Cuban
fans would turn the Garden into an event not seen in many a
years. Let's make this one
happen!
