Unbeaten Cuban superstar Yuriorkis Gamboa (22-0, 16) looks to claim his 3rd division title as he moves up to Lightweight and fights for the WBA "interim" title against unbeaten Colombian Darley Perez (28-0, 19). The bout, part of the under-card in Canada for the Chad Dawson v Adonis Stevenson bout, has a lot of promise on paper, but will it deliver?
Gamboa has been a "must watch" fighter since his amateur days where he claimed a number of medals across various international tournaments with his speed, skill, combinations and venomous power.
Since turning professional in 2007 Gamboa has claimed titles at both Featherweight (WBA and IBF) and Super Featherweight (WBA "interim") and scored notable wins over a mini who's who including Daniel Ponce De Leon, Jorge Solis, Jonathan Victor Barros and Orlando Salido. He has combined exciting offense with poor defense and become a genuinely fun to watch fighter with an air of vulnerability to pair off against his aggression.
Gamboa has got some amazing traits and some wonderful weapons in his arsenal. With out a doubt he's a talent though he also has his issues. His chin is poor, his move up to 135lbs may be a step too far and he's got very questionable stamina. If he doesn't take an opponent out early he slows (a lot) and can become very negative, as we saw last time out against tough Filipino Michel Farenas and although he has got the skills to rely on there is questions about just how good he is on the back foot.
If Gamboa can't hurt an opponents with his blistering shots that land amazingly quick, then we could be in for a very good contest.
In Darley Perez we have a very "un-Colombian, Colombian". A typical Colombian is a crude but very power puncher, in Perez however we have a well schooled former amateur standout who competed at 2 World Amateur Championships and an Olympic games. Sure he failed to medal in those competitions but he did compete at the very highest level in the unpaid ranks.
Since turning professional in 2009 Perez has been a busy fighter averaging around 7 fights a year. These have generally been at a low level though last year he did manage a notable step up as he out pointed the highly regarded Bahodir Mamadjonov (who was too small in all honesty for Perez). Without a doubt he's got an impressive looking record on paper, but behind raw the numbers there is little real quality there.
Perez lacks the punch of a typical Colombian and this is a real shame going in to this bout. With a "Colombian" punch Perez could have made Gamboa respect him, sadly with out it, it's likely that Gamboa will be happy to try and take him out.
Whilst Gamboa struggled with Farenas last time out, Farenas is genuinely a gatekeeper (and could potentially claim a world title before his careers over). Perez however struggled with relative nobody Julio Camano (who has now lost 8 of his most recent 9) who dropped him twice. If Carmano can drop Perez then Gamboa can stop Perez.
Gamboa's one problem here, will be the natural size disadvantage. He'll be giving away height and reach, though his skill should manage to over-come both of these issues with out too many difficulties due to Perez's limitations.
Prediction-Gamboa TKO5
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