Manny Pacquiao isn’t the only ageing lower-weight fighter who is able to astonish us all by throwing punches as fast as a man around half his age. No, Cuban veteran Yuriorkis Gamboa, at age 37, coming up 38 later this year, showed last night with his impressive second-round stoppage of fellow former champ Roman “Rocky” Martinez that his hands are still a blur, that his explosiveness is still very much there.
However, in the case of the quite freakish Pacquiao, the chin is still there, as is the durability still intact. We don’t know if we can say the same about Gamboa; an exciting yet often vulnerable fighting machine, one that has been decked numerous times over the years. Gamboa wants to find out just what he’s got left and he has a plan on how to do it.
Going into last night’s must-win fight with Martinez (the must-win tag an attachment in place ahead of Gamboa’s last four bouts, following his bad 2017 stoppage loss to Robinson Castellanos), the former belt-holder at both featherweight and super-featherweight made it clear he was chasing a fight with unbeaten star in the making Gervonta Davis. Gamboa has not been put off by the quick job “Tank” did in the headline spot on last night’s card, the 24 year old taking out Ricardo Nunez as quickly as Gamboa had dealt with Martinez.
Gamboa wants Davis next and the fight has a great chance of happening. And though Davis, so much the younger, fresher man, would be a prohibitive favourite, we could see an eventful fight – an explosive fight. In many ways, a Davis-Gamboa fight would be a fascinating match-up: the young lion against the old lion, both of them armed with tremendous speed, great accuracy and, well, explosiveness.
Could Gamboa, 30-2(18) teach the young buck a thing or two in a fight, might he be able to set traps for the WBA 130 pound champ? Who would actually display the quicker hands? Again, a fascinating fight in a number of ways. One thing is for certain, a clash between Davis, 22-0(21) and Gamboa would not be dull. It would be full of action and for however long he was able to stay in there Gamboa would be looking to unleash his sizzling bombs.
Would Tank be able to take whatever did manage to land and test his body and/or his chin? Gamboa seems to have been around forever, and though he came close, true stardom has this far eluded him. Is it too late for the Cuban defector to be celebrated the way he and his great skills perhaps should have been a few years back?
