I once saw a comment on yt that says "Chris would school Gamboa",thinking about it, it's definitely an interesting clash of styles,I watched one video of Gamboa and a few highlights of him to identify his style, here's what I had to offer: Style:this is like north and south, Chris was a careful boxer puncher,while like Lora pointed out he perhaps had some flaws for lack of threatening offence,in some fights he showed good infighting and clinch game,he also had enough pop despite not using it fully. Gamboa is different,he throws everything in his arsenal,all bombs away brawler,I haven't seen him use his defence yet but according to some people he lacked that for the later rounds,but I see him using his arsenal and firepower as a threat. Strength:Gamboa, Chris had enough pop and in his early,obscure hometown hero career he was capable of ko'ing good amount of fighters,but he decreased that after he grew into a champ,for obvious reasons... Defense: definitely John,for Gamboa,from what I hear he just gets caught and caught over and over with shots at the later rounds,not good. Overall analysis of fight:maybe it would be a more aggressive and brutal John vs Marquez,I see John surviving the early onslaught and piling up on Gamboa later,again,I don't see much of Gamboa yet,I will look on him more(his footages are short as a ko artist,why not )
I remember this fight being talked about a little bit. Gamboa called out John after at least one of his wins. He was holding minor WBA title, with Chris John being the "Super" champion... it's one of the many great fights in that era that did not take place because of WBA's rules, allowing two "champions" to defend different versions of the title without facing each other (Golovkin and Sturm, Ioka and Roman Goznalez are some other examples). I think at the time this fight could've realistically happend - Gamboa would win in style. John's level of opposition declined after Juarez fights - and He was ready for the taking for at least couple years before Vetyeka finally ended his reign. Prime for prime, it would be very interesting. John was always in tip-top shape and very disciplined. I'd still favor Gamboa with his talent and athlethicism, on a neutral ground. We did not get to see as much from him as We'd like - but Salido was very good win, so was Ponce and Solid - and his effort at Lightweight, way above his optimal weight, is very impressive looking back. I think He was probably PFP level operator as a Featherweight.
While as Gamboa had talent and such,I do think John had an underrated aspect that's rarely highlighted for him,his chin and heart,that could save him from early-middle round Gamboa,split decision 115-113 for Chris maybe?
I certainly won't argue with that position. John was quality champion. He was solid all around - without any obvious weakness - He had heart, He was disciplined, He could move and keep his shape very well for all 12 rounds. In his prime, He was better than anybody that Gamboa beat. Looking up - Gamboa won a minor WBA title in 2009. It was between the two Rocky Juarez fights for John, when He was introduced to the American public, fighting in the US and on HBO. Timing was not bad for this one actually, in 2010 Chris John was probably still around his prime. Would've been fascinating match-up to make.
What do you think of Chris then? Do you think he lacks competition or he's just an all around,good fighter who's the embodiment of Vilomar Fernandez 2.0?
I'm big Chris John fan and see him simply doing what he always did. Winning rounds. John via decision.
