Yuriorkis Gamboa faces Terence Crawford on 6/28 in Omaha, Nebraska

By Boxing News - 05/06/2014 - Comments

crawford332By Dan Ambrose: In a battle of unbeatens, WBO lightweight champion Terence Crawford (23-0, 16 KO’s) will put his WBO 135lb title on the line against Yuriorkis Gamboa (23-0, 16 KO’s) next month on June 28th at the CenturyLink Center, in Omaha, Nebraska, USA. This is one of the better lightweight bouts the division has seen in the last few years. Gamboa has looked impressive since turning pro in 2007, as he’s won two titles [IBF/WBA] in the featherweight division, and he’s looked good since moving up to the lightweight division.

Crawford has also been very impressive lately. He defeated WBO lightweight champion Ricky Burns by a 12 round unanimous decision last March. Crawford easily out-boxed a very good fighter in that bout, and had Burns looking totally befuddled for the most part. Recently there was talk of Crawford defending his WBO title against No.1 WBO Raymundo Beltran, but the Gamboa fight opened up for Crawford after Top Rank was unable to set up a fight between Gamboa and the Top Rank promoted Mikey Garcia.

This is going to be a tough fight for both Gamboa and Crawford, because neither guy has faced anyone that is as fast them. Gamboa might have the speed advantage over Crawford, and he definitely has the power advantage. However, Crawford, 5’8″, is almost three inches taller than the 5’5 1/2″ Gamboa, and he’s excellent counter puncher.

Gamboa is also a counter puncher, and that’s what makes this fight so interesting. Crawford hasn’t had his chin tested as much as it likely will be in this fight. In his one fight against a big puncher against Breidis Prescott, Crawford took a lot of heavy shots to the head in the early part of the fight, but he was able to take over the fight with his sharp counter shots that made Prescott hesitant to let his punches go. Gamboa is an extremely accurate sharp shooter, and he’s not likely to back off the way that Prescott did.



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