Home Boxing News Juan Manuel Lopez and Yuriorkis Gamboa Finally Seem Destined to meet in...

Juan Manuel Lopez and Yuriorkis Gamboa Finally Seem Destined to meet in the ring, but has it been worth the wait?

yuriorkis gamboa

For several years in the sport of boxing, one of the top fights to make was a dream featherweight showdown between Puerto Rico’s Juan Manuel Lopez and Cuban star and gold medalist Yuriorkis Gamboa.

As undefeated stars who shared the same promoter, Top Rank, the two stars were often featured on the same cards together and fans began to analyze the matchup. But something happened along the way that prevented us from seeing these two meet in the ring.

It was April of 2011 when Lopez, then the WBO featherweight world champion, faced rugged Mexican brawler Orlando Salido in Bayamon, Puerto Rico. A win would have gotten us closer to Lopez vs. Gamboa happening, but Salidp upset those plans with an 8th round TKO. The two men rematched nearly a year later, and Salido again stopped Lopez, via 10th round TKO.

Gamboa, meanwhile, around that time, went through his own issues promotionally, as he jumped ship from Top Rank and found himself under 50 Cent’s SMS Promotions banner while his career moved slowly before he too suffered his first defeat, at 135 pounds, via a TKO loss to Terence Crawford.

The Gamboa vs. Lopez fight was up in smoke and it seemed like the two would never meet up. But time heals all wounds and now, years later, it looks like the two are close to meeting.

On Saturday night, in Miami, both Lopez and Gamboa scored victories to make a potential fight a reality. While they are no longer champions, and the fight isn’t hugely demanded, it would still be an entertaining fight if they met.

In the co-feature bout of the evening, inside of the Miami-Dade County Fair & Expo Center, Lopez (36-6, 32 KO’s) scored four knockdown’s over Argentina’s Cristian Ruben Mino (19-3, 17 KO’s) on his way towards a unanimous decision victory over 10 rounds.

“I don’t know how he absorbed all the punishment,” Lopez said after the fight. “I couldn’t know him out but it was a good fight. It was uncomfortable because of his style but I’ve been fighting for a long time and it was an excellent warm up for the Gamboa fight.”

In the final fight of the evening, Gamboa (29-2, 17 KO’s) dropped Miguel Beltran Jr. (33-7, 22 KO’s) in the first round and cruised towards a unanimous decision victory over ten rounds himself.

“I was very happy with the results,” said Gamboa. “I tried to work on my explosiveness and it worked well. It was a very exciting night for me. Here in Miami. My city. Great crowd.”

To further fuel the fight, the two warriors met in the center of the ring afterwards and both spoke their mind.

“Enough of the waiting,” said Lopez. “We have been waiting long enough I did my part and you did your part now let’s get it on.”

Gamboa is equally as interested in making the fight.

“If it’s a fight the fans want to see, let’s do it!”Gamboa exclaimed.

It may not be the type of fight it was years back, but this is still a matchup that could be entertaining.