Weekend Wrap Up: The Future Is Now In The Featherweight Division.
Juan Manuel Lopez and Yuriorkis Gamboa both proved this past Saturday night that the future is now in the featherweight division. To say both fought spectacularly, is an understatement!
Gamboa is really starting to season as a young pro. His defense is tightening up while his speed, power, and reflexes continue to overwhelm his opponents. This was only the seventeenth fight for Gamboa so after some rough moments in his early fights, his transition to a dominant and well rounded pro seems to be right on pace for a kid with only seventeen fights and a shit load of amateur bouts.
I would like to see Gamboa continue to grow and build before a super fight with Juanma. Ponce De Leon sounds like the next perfect opponent to me. No matter who Gamboa fights next, I’ll be watching, and to think that I thought that Rogers Mtagwa had a shot of upsetting Gamboa… I was glad to be wrong on that performance.
Juan Manuel Lopez had the tougher opponent in the champion and more experienced Luevano. Luevano is a counter puncher so the fight didn’t make an early Juanma highlight reel as previous fights.
Styles make fights and although Luevano fought well in spots, Juan’s speed, power, and timing was just too much for Luevano to handle. Juanma is a fucking beast and this fight will only making him better in learning how to master a counter puncher.
Juanma needed the rounds against an experienced fighter and champion and he got them.
The drums are now beating for Gamboa-Lopez but they’ll be beating for awhile as Arum, the old school promoter he is is building their future fight into a meg fight. Look for both fighters to try to clean out the division while building such a huge demand for their fight that’ll far surpass a super fight it’s destined to be. I agree with Arum doing this and both fighters need to develop more before being pushed into such a fight. Remember, great things come to those who wait. So be patient won’t you!
