Yuriorkis Gamboa hits harder than Pacquiao claims Jorge Solis

In the post-fight interview after the Yuriorkis Gamboa (20-0-0, 16 KOs) destruction of Jorge Solis (40-3-2, 29 KOs) at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City on Saturday night, the beaten Mexican fighter was asked to compare Gamboa to Pacquiao.

Solis, who stands 5’8” tall, said Gamboa, who is three inches shorter than himself, hits harder than Pacquiao. Given that the Cyclone of Guantanamo knocked him out in half the time it took Pacquiao to do so, boxing insiders are starting to give credence to such a claim.

In the fourth and final round Yuriorkis Gamboa is shown pounding Jorge Solis as he has him backed up against the ropes. Photo: Hunter Martin/Getty Images

On April 14, 2007, Manny Pacquiao knocked out Solis in Round 8 of their featherweight match. Saturday evening, it was Gamboa’s plan to overshadow that performance. His approach to fulfilling that prophecy began in round two when he knocked Solis down twice in the second round. Solis got up both times, but didn’t look all smiles when getting up the third time at the end of the round. Gamboa used a mid-range half-jab/half-hook to knock Solis off his feet.

As the fourth round began, Gamboa put him down a fourth time before finally finishing him off with a flurry against the ropes that sent him down for the fifth and final time.

Yuriorkis Gamboa celebrates after knocking down Jorge Solis in their IBF WBA World Featherweight title bout on March 26, 2011 at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J. Photo: Hunter Martin/Getty Images

Gamboa (20-0-0, 16 KOs) has done very well for himself in his brief four year pro career with all 20 of his wins coming against boxers with a winning record. As one of Boxing’s flashiest champions (I’m not saying the most popular or cleanest), he’s now looking forward to much bigger paydays. He can’t buy much with those oversized belts from the WBA and IBF.

Detractors might agree that Gamboa packs a wallop but they’ll also point out his suspect defense. When this featherweight gets caught with a good shot he’s been known to go down (officially he’s been ruled down five times). We should also check our facts with guys like Rogers Mtagwa who went 12 grueling rounds with Juan Manuel Lopez (Gamboa’s chief rival in the featherweight division). Mitagwa lasted less than two rounds when fighting Gamboa.

Lopez (30-0, 27 KOs) was one of the first people in the ring to congratulate Gamboa after his win. Aside from a Manny Pacquaio-Floyd Mayweather, Jr. fight, a Lopez-Gamboa match-up would be huge. Of course there’s really nothing standing in the way, other than the fact that both are promoted by Top Rank, who wants to build them up just a little bit more to maximize the hype.

Of this we can be certain, Gamboa’s career has been highlighted with excitement and stained by inconsistency. The 2004 Cuban Olympic gold medalist has the skills, but does he have the mental toughness to last?

Returning to the inference or speculation mentioned above: Is there any chance we’ll ever see Gamboa face Pacquiao?

To be fair, they would have to meet (weight wise) somewhere in the middle perhaps at a catch weight of 140 pounds. That means Pacquiao whose walk around weight is usually 152 pounds would have to lose 12 pounds and Gamboa who rarely strays from a walk around weight of 135 pounds would have to put on five pounds. Since it’s been proven that putting on excess weight is more detrimental to a boxer that taking it off, I’d say this match-up will never take place. It didn’t work for Juan Manuel Marquez when he stepped up to fight Floyd Mayweather Jr.