By Ian S Palmer
Unbeaten former Super World Super Featherweight Champion Gervonta Davis will be taking on former world champ Yuriorkis Gamboa of Cuba for the vacant WBA Lightweight Title in Atlanta, Georgia this Saturday, December 28th on the Showtime network in America. Davis of Baltimore, Maryland, last fought in July when he stopped Ricardo Nunez in the second round. Gamboa’s last action was on the same card in July when he stopped Roman Martinez in round two.
The 25-year-old Davis was a 2012 National Golden Gloves Champion as an amateur and enters the fight with a perfect mark of 22-0 along with 21 big Kos. He’s fought just 67 rounds since turning pro back in 2013 due to his tremendous punching power and his knockouts over Nunez, Jesus Cuellar, Hugo Ruiz, Jose Pedraza and Liam Walsh were exceptional. The southpaw has the talent and power to be a long-reigning champion.
Davis currently has a knockout ratio of 95.5 per cent with the only opponent to take him the distance as a pro being German Meraz when the pair went six rounds back in 2014. However, Davis still managed to drop him in both the third and fifth rounds. Davis stopped Pedraza in the seventh round for the IBF Super Featherweight Title in January of 2017 and then defended it four months later in England when he stopped Walsh in the third round.
Davis’ first title reign came to an end in August, 2017 against Francesco Fonseca though when he failed to make weight. However, he stopped Fonseca in the eighth round. He then won the WBA version against Cuellar in April 2018 and defended it against Ruiz and Nunez. Davis stands just over 5-feet-5-inches tall and has a reach of 67.5 inches. He’s obviously got a lot of dynamite in his fists, but his chin hasn’t really been tested as of yet.
The 38-year-old Gamboa enters the fight with an impressive record of 30-2 along with 18 Kos. His first career loss was a ninth-round TKO to Terence Crawford in a WBO World Lightweight Title fight in June of 2014. His second defeat was to Robinson Castellanos in May of 2017 when he was stopped after the seventh round. He just managed to beat Alexis Reyes in August of 2017 after having three points deducted in the fight and squeaked past Jason Sosa by majority decision in November, 2017 after losing a point.
Although he’s on the downside of his career now, Gamboa still has has quick hands but usually doesn’t let them go nearly enough and has just two stoppages in his last 12 fights. Gamboa, who fights out of Miami, Florida, stands just over 5-feet-5-inches tall with a 65-inch reach so he’s the same height as Davis but gives up two inches in reach. He’s boxed 195 rounds since turning pro and has somewhat underrated power with a current knockout ratio of 56.3 per cent.
Gamboa had an excellent amateur career with 250 bouts and won a gold medal for Cuba as a flyweight at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece. In some fans’ eyes Gamboa has sort of wasted his opportunity at an excellent pro career due to his constant periods of inactivity. He’s held a featherweight world title and interim lightweight belt and has wins over Orlando Salido, Daniel Ponce De Leon, Jorge Solis, and Jonathan Victor Barros. His chin let him down in his two losses and he just doesn’t seem to be the fighter he once was.
Prediction…
Gamboa is 38 years old, which makes him 13 years older than Davis and many fans feel Davis should be fighting a better quality of opponent at this stage of his career or at least somebody younger. But it is what it is. At least Gamboa has some power in his fists and could do some damage if he lands something flush on the chin. It’s unlikely to happen though as I expect Davis to leave the ring with a new world title belt.
