By Ian S Palmer
Yuriorkis Gamboa of Cuba takes on fellow former world champion Roman ‘Rocky’ Martinez of Puerto Rico in Baltimore, Maryland this Saturday, July 27th. The 10-round lightweight bout can be seen live in the USA on Showtime while fans in Canada can catch it on TSN 5. Gamboa last fought in November when he beat Miguel Beltran by a 10-round unanimous decision while Martinez fought in March after an almost three-year layoff and stopped William Gonzalez in the eighth round.
The 37-year-old Gamboa enters the fight with an impressive record of 29-2 along with 17 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 still doesn’t let them go nearly enough and has just one stoppage in his last 11 fights. Gamboa, who fights out of Miami, Florida, stands just over 5-feet-5-inches tall with a 65-inch reach. He’s boxed 193 rounds since turning pro and has somewhat underrated power with a current knockout ratio of 55 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 lately and he just doesn’t seem to be the fighter he once was. Gamboa’s not a youngster anymore and will have trouble against Martinez if his chin can’t hold up.
The 36-year-old Martinez lost his WBO Super Featherweight Championship to Vasyl Lomachenko by fifth round stoppage in June of 2016 and didn’t fight again until this March 29th. Martinez has won world belts both the 126 and 130 lb divisions and he enters the ring with a record of 30-3-3 with 18 Kos to his name. Martinez won his titles via a fourth-round TKO over Nicky Cook in England 2009 and by a split decision against fellow countryman Miguel Beltran Jr. in 2012.
Martinez’s other two losses have been to Scotland’s Ricky Burns in 2010 by decision and he was stopped by Mikey Garcia in eight rounds in 2013. He’s also drawn with Juan Carlos Burgos, Orlando Salido and Jose Leonardo Cruz and has beaten Salido, Diego Magdaleno, Santos Benavides, Walter Estrada and Daniel Attah. Martinez is 5-feet-8-inches tall with a 67-inch reach so has a three-inch height and two-inch reach edge on Gamboa.
Martinez turned pro back in 2001 in and has gone 251rounds since then and has a current knockout ratio of 50 per cent. Martinez is a solid pro, but probably just a little shy of the Grade A level. He’s been involved in numerous brawls throughout his career and has also won a few regional and minor titles along the way as well as his world belts.
Prediction……
This would have been a great matchup if both boxers were in their prime but it’s still an intriguing fight. Both boxers are experienced pros and former world champions with enough power to stop each other. Gamboa possesses the better boxing skills and as long as his chin holds up should be able to emerge victorious against Martinez.
