Miami a possible host for a fight that’s been eight years in the making
Their dress rehearsals successfully completed, Miami resident Yuriorkis Gamboa and Juan Manuel Lopez now can target the bout that first linked both fighters eight years ago but never materialized.
The former featherweight champions headlined Saturday’s show at the Youth Fair Expo Center in separate bouts. Their fights served as a teaser to a match Gamboa and Lopez covet next spring — highly likely in Miami.
And any possibility of both overlooking their immediate responsibilities was soundly dispelled.
Gamboa won a lopsided unanimous decision over Mexico’s Miguel Beltran, and Lopez defeated Argentina’s Cristian Mino in a similarly convincing decision.
“Our fight is what the people want and we are going to give it to them,” Gamboa said.
Fighting for the first time in his adopted hometown, Gamboa, a native of Cuba, outclassed Beltran with quick and accurate combinations. Gamboa also was fleet at slipping Beltran’s shots.
Gamboa (29-2) set the tone to his dominance when he floored Beltran (33-7) with a left right combination to the head in the closing seconds of the first round. With the estimated crowd of 2,000 cheering his name, Gamboa maintained a busy pace throughout the 10-round distance.
All three judges confirmed Gamboa’s performance with scorecards of 100-89, 99-91 and 98-90.
“I’m blessed that I finally had the opportunity to fight here,” Gamboa said. “I proved that I am far from finished.
“It was great to enjoy the support from the crowd. This was an experience that I have missed.”
Lopez withstood a game effort from Mino, who pressed the action in the first two rounds with short rights to the head.
But Lopez (36-6) gradually wore down Mino, beginning with two knockdowns in the third round. Lopez also dropped Mino (19-3) in the fourth and sixth rounds.
Two judges scored the bout for Lopez, 95-86, while the third also had him winning 96-87.
A native of Puerto Rico, Lopez needed a successful outing to overcome a 2-4 stretch in his last six bouts and add some validity to a match with Gamboa.
“I have wanted to fight Gamboa for such a long time, and now we will have that opportunity,” Lopez said. “The crowd is going to like the fight.”
In other bouts Saturday: welterweight Harold Calderon scored a TKO over Emiliano Garcia at 1:11 of the seventh round; featherweight Jorge Rivero won a unanimous decision over Jason Vera; and junior-middleweight Sonny Duversonne won a unanimous decision over Juan Almonte.
AROUND THE RING
Fighters rarely fulfill their first retirement intentions and former light-heavyweight champion Jean Pascal serves as another example.
Eleven months after announcing his retirement following a sixth-round technical knockout victory over Aventura’s Ahmed Elbiali at Hialeah Park and Casino, Pascal is on the comeback trail and finishing preparations for another title fight.
Pascal will face defending champion Dmitry Bivol for the World Boxing Association light-heavyweight belt on Nov. 24 in Atlantic City, New Jersey.