A few thoughts about Gamboa tonight in what turned out to be a very long post...

Sorry for the ten page article, but I don't make threads very often and when I do I just keep rambling on forever.. The hate/underrating/ridiculous comparisons Gamboa is getting on this forum pissed me off a bit, so I wanted to make a thread looking at what happened realistically.

Watching the fight back a couple times (and interestingly, each time I've watched it, Gamboa has impressed me more), I made a list of what impressed me about Gamboa-Jiminez tonight and what didn't:

Impressive:

• Gamboa stepped up to a B- level, very solid chinned opponent in his 10th pro fight and dominated him easily, winning 9 out of 10 rounds very clearly.
• Gamboa showed phenomenal abilities/skills like always.. no point of listing every single thing out specifically, it's obvious. No prospects from this decade have/had superior talent.
• Jiminez took a lot of punches well, showing a very solid chin and when he was hurt, he showed good survival skills. He also had an effective defensive guard and was patient with his punches. Not taking out Jimenez in a 10 rounder doesn't mean Gamboa's power is overrated.
• Gamboa showed a very solid chin himself, taking multiple flush shots from Jimenez (a fighter with above-average power) and not getting impacted by them at all. He suffered a flash KD, but he was clearly not hurt and it happened more because of him being off balance than anything else.
• Gamboa is very strong physically. Jimenez is not a small SFW and he was getting manhandled by Gamboa on many occasions. Jimenez could not push him back at any point.
• Gamboa is extremely relaxed all the time, no matter what happens. This is a very, very good trait to have and it's rare in a fighter with so few pro fights.
• Gamboa's workrate was very good. He threw a lot of punches and he threw them without taking any long breaks. He also didn't lose a significant amount of snap in them or start getting sloppy over the course of the fight.
• Gamboa showed very good stamina. He took some big punches in there, threw a ton of combinations, and he tried to go all out for the stoppage multiple times, swarming Jimenez like a madman.. all without ever looking gassed.
• Gamboa came out in the 10th round like a great fighter and warrior does, looking fresh, closing the show impressively. I counted and he actually threw 124 punches in the final round.

Unimpressive:

• Gamboa didn't focus on defense as much as he should have, so he got hit too much.
• Gamboa should have mixed up his attack a lot more, going to the body and back to the head when Jiminez was in a defensive shell.
• Gamboa was focusing on scoring a knockout way too much instead of focusing on fighting a safer fight while outboxing and dominating his opponent and letting the knockout come by itself (perhaps this is the reason he didn't go to the body much, despite showing great body punching skills in the past).
• He wore different, smaller trunks than in previous fights. The old, longer ones gave him a better look IMO. The new red shoes look good though.

Yes, he will never be as good as Roy Jones (nobody will). I can't say predictions like they're facts, but yes, he will most likely never be as good as Ray Leonard. But, he still clearly has ATG potential and every single thing included under the unimpressive list is something that Gamboa could improve on(and will definitely improve on in the future).

Gamboa was up against a real opponent tonight. This wasn't a Richar Gutierrez or an Eromosele Albert. It was a very motivated B- opponent with a very solid chin, pretty good accuracy, quick hands, and solid skills. Jiminez's only two losses before this were to C+/B- level fighters in who he would have beaten if it wasn't for issues with his stamina/workrate.. issues that don't really matter against Gamboa since there's no way he could take rounds outboxing him anyways. If Jiminez improves his stamina/workrate, he could become a B level fighter, even B+ if he somehow gained great stamina. I would favor this current version of him over both Valero and Arthur, two titlists at 130 right now. Hopefully we will see him fight again.

I really believe Jiminez is one of the only SFW's out there that could last 10 rounds against Gamboa. It's very arguable he would have gotten taken out if it was a 12 rounder or if Gamboa invested in body punching. Hopefully, in his next fights Gamboa will learn from this experience and not just search for the knockout the entire time. He needs to use a lot more body punching, because it's a great part of his skillset and in the case of fighting someone like Jiminez, it would make them drop their guard or just get broken down much worse in general. Jiminez got a huge beating tonight, but imagine if Gamboa mixed in body punches with his attack. I doubt Jiminez would see the 10th.

Gamboa's chin should not be considered suspect at all. He was clearly not hurt at all by that punch in the 4th round and he came right back at Jiminez after getting up without panicking the slightest bit. A lot of people don't seem to understand the difference between a flash KD and getting hurt. Gamboa proved that he has a very good chin tonight, yet there are all these ridiculous comparisons being thrown around this forum to actual shaky chinned prospects/fighters.


A quote by Ahmet Öner (Gamboa's promoter, whose reactions in the crowd were very funny to watch) after the fight that I thought was interesting: "He was a little bit too arrogant and gave me a hard time. You must not forget that it was only his tenth pro-fight though. He has got to improve his defense but he will definitely be world champion one day. After all I'm glad that he had to go the distance. That was an important experience for him."

After watching the fight live I was thinking the same exact thing. Gamboa's biggest problem tonight was his arrogance. He has this "I'm your daddy" type of personality and acts like nothing in the world could bother him. Before the knockdown, he didn't care about getting hit and didn't show any respect for Jimenez's power because the punches didn't affect him. After the knockdown, he got up feeling a little embarassed/annoyed, continued to show no respect for Jimenez's power, and continued to take shots that had no effect on him. I think he has a show-off warrior personality similar to Guzman (especially a younger Guzman), where he wants people (and his opponent) to see how tough he is and get impressed by his chin, not only his skills.

In a way, it's a very good thing that Gamboa went 10 rounds before stepping up to a higher level fighter and hopefully Gamboa learned some valuable lessons tonight. He needs to focus more on defense and not going for the knockout tonight. His confidence and warrior mentality is great, but he also needs to realize (the way Guzman did over the years) that he should go toe to toe less and box safely more. This is all part of a maturity process and through more experiences he will change.

The decision to fight Jiminez as Gamboa's first fight on HBO to create hype was not very smart. They should have put him in with a shittier fighter first if they wanted to see a performance that would amaze the "casual fan". HBO was dissappointed with the performance only because there was no big knockout. But all of this doesn't matter, Gamboa will create hype when he becomes champion and shows his domination at the top level. With such an exciting style and such incredible talent/skill, he doesn't need bull**** hype. He will get everyone's attention, it's only a matter of time.

One final thought. Guzman-Gamboa would be unreal. Every time I'm pissed off about the state of boxing today, I picture Guzman-Gamboa in my head and immediately become happy again. This fight really needs to happen before Guzman gets too old, it would be a tragedy if we never get to see it. Can you think of a better clash of styles and personalities in the ring than these two highly skilled warriors? :scaredas:I know Gamboa is still "unproven at the higher level", but this is possibly one of the greatest matchups in the history of the boxing.

 

I highly doubt he would. But do you want to provide any analysis for this opinion?

Anyways, I'm gonna go sleep. Hopefully someone actually reads half of this.

 

I agree that he should take 4-5 more fights against fighters like Rojas to develop his style more and work on his defense. He has amazing confidence and wants to prove that he's the best as fast as possible.. the only thing I worry about is Gamboa being arrogant about improving his defense and not making serious changes to it until something big happens. He would still beat fighters like Valero and Linares easily. It would be nice to see him beat the top guys at 126 before going to 130, just for legacy purposes and because 126 is a weak division where he could get some great experience and hype.

B- level, C+ only if you rate very strictly. He proved it with his performances against Trejo/Huerta and his performance against Gamboa yesterday. The only reason he lost those first two fights is because of his stamina/workrate, his skills/abilities are that of a solid B level fighter.

The funny thing is that Pavlik would have more trouble with a Jiminez level fighter at MW than Gamboa did last night. And I consider Pavlik in between B and B+ level.

The only thing I overrated about Gamboa before this is his current intelligence and defense, both things that will improve as he matures.

 

Again, he lost very closely only because he let these guys outwork him. His skills are superior to Trejo/Huerta's and he has a very good chin.

Yeah, the hands down problem falls under the general "didn't focus on defense as much as he should have, so he got hit too much" category. It's not like he doesn't know he needs to keep his hands up, needs to move his head more, and needs to move out of range when he's fighting at a dangerous distance.. he's simply too cocky/arrogant to care about it until something major happens. I love that about him from an entertainment standpoint, but hopefully he will mature soon the way Guzman did.

If you still can't find it after tonight, PM me and I can give you a link. ****, you were really excited about this fight.. sucks that you didn't get to see it live. Gamboa is so damn entertaining, I watched the fight 3 times and it was compelling every time. His talent is amazing, I kept imagining a boxing world filled with a larger number of talented athletes like other sports (basketball, football, soccer, etc.), that would be something. :|