Boxing Results: Devin Haney defeats Yuriorkis Gamboa by 12 round decision

By Boxing News - 11/08/2020 - Comments

By Sean Jones: Devin Haney (25-0, 15 KOs) labored to a boring 12 round unanimous decision in s successful defense of his WBC lightweight title against a shot-looking and out of shape Yuriorkis Gamboa (30-4, 18 KOs) on Saturday night on DAZN.

Fighting without a crowd at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida, Haney pot-shotted his way to victory over the 38-year-old Gamboa, who looked unwilling to engage. Gamboa fought to survive, but he made sure he the 12 rounds.

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Gamboa didn’t look like he was in great condition. He held constantly and looked tired in the championship rounds. The referee lost patience with Gamboa in the 11th round penalized him a point for excessive holding. Unfortunately, that didn’t change anything as Gamboa continued to hold for the remainder of the fight.

The judges scored the contest for Haney by the scores:

  • 118-109
  • 120-107
  • 120-107

Haney landed some left hooks and right hands each round, but he didn’t have enough power on his punches to hurt Gamboa. Going into the fight, Haney repeatedly said that he wanted to beat Gamboa worse than he’s ever been beaten before.

Sadly, Haney failed to beat Gamboa better than the three fighters that had defeated during his career, and he looked worse than some of the fighters that Gamboa has beaten.

Haney’s lack of power is something that you have to be concerned with if you’re part of his team. Haney’s performance showed that he doesn’t hit hard enough to be considered among the best at 135.

“I thought I put in a world-class performance. Of course, I wanted the knockout, but he was a crafty veteran,” said Haney after the fight in talking about why he failed to stop Gamboa.

“He was trying to survive. I wasn’t surprised at all. I knew he was going to come in and be scrappy, and he was going to do anything to survive, and that’s what he did.

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“I knew coming in that he was going to do a lot of holding. I hit him with big shots. Whenever he was hurt, he would hold and get scrappy. But that’s just him being a veteran and knowing how to survive and being in a lot of big fights.

“I hit him with some big shots. As I said, he was really crafty, and he knew how to survive. I hit him with a lot of jabs. He’s a crafty opponent. He’s a true champion. I take nothing away from him.

At times, I did get a little wreckless because I wanted the knockout, but that was just with him being a crafty opponent. He knew how to survive. He knew how to take the big shots. He knew how to hold on.”

“I knew I was going to try and hit him with big shots from round one to round twelve. That’s why in round twelve, you saw me bite down and even try and still get him out of there because I wanted the knockout. But it’s good to get the rounds. It shows how good of a boxer I am. When I want to bang, I can bang, and when I want to box, I can box. My shoulder felt great, 100%—no ring rust.

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Haney calls out Teofimo Lopez

“There’s a lot of big fights out there. I showed that I’m here, and I’m not going anywhere. I want the big fights. I want to make the big fights. Fighting someone like Gamboa was a stepping stone, but I’m here for the big fights. I want to make the biggest fights happen to bring the best out of me.

“Three’s a lot of big fights in the lightweight division,” Haney continued. “Teofimo is the one with the rest of the belts. So that’s the main fight I want to make happen,” said Haney.

It might be a good idea for Haney to consider moving down to 130, where his lack of punching power isn’t as much of a liability for him. At 135, Haney will take a lot of punishment when or if he eventually gets in there with the big three: Teofimo Lopez, Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis, and Ryan Garcia.

Devin could have done more tonight if he’d let his hands go when he got in range of Gamboa, but he was throwing the Mayweather-esque potshots. If Haney had massive power, he would have knocked Gamboa out with his single punches, but he’s not a puncher.

Haney is like a slow version of Floyd Mayweather Jr, but the older version. When Mayweather was younger, he was a lot more aggressive than what we saw from Haney tonight. Haney fought more like Mayweather at the end of his career when he lost his hand speed.

There’s no way for Haney and his team to put a positive spin on his performance tonight. It was disappointing, and it showed Haney’s flaw loud and clear. Haney doesn’t have power, he’s not fast of hand, and he doesn’t throw combinations.

Right now, you’d have to favor these fighters to beat Haney and possibly knock him out:

  • Ryan Garcia
  • Teofimo Lopez
  • Gervonta Davis
  • Vasily Lomachenko
  • Luke Campbell
  • Jorge Linares
  • Rolando Romero