In the United States: Yuriorkis Gamboa vs. Jose Rojas James McGirt Jr. vs. Carlos De Leon Jr. (Florida) Jesus Soto Karass vs. Chris Smith Henry Bruseles vs. Ben Tackie (New Jersey) Jeremy Williams vs. Zack Page (Philadelphia) In New Zealand: Shane Cameron vs. Jonathan Haggler In Spain: Omar Andres Narvaez vs. Ivan Pozo Are any of the favorites here in any real danger of a tough night, let alone being upset?
My boy Soto Karass should beat Chris Smith quite handily without much trouble at all, but it will be his biggest coup to date and start to set up some bigger paydays for him...maybe even on English-language TV. :yep
Soto Karass may not be unification-bound but he's an exciting and improving fighter who could develop into a solid B+ welterweight contender. :good Also, Rojas is a similarly good (if similarly cake) stepping stone for Gamboa.
I'll look out for Karass. Rojas is going to get annihilated I'm afraid and that's going to send the Gamboa train steaming forward even faster, as Rojas had given Chris John trouble.
After Gamboa beats Rojas and whoever they match him up against on HBO, I think he'd be deserving and more than ready for a title shot.
If he beats Rojas, they ought to put him in with Soto. If Guzman had KO power, he would have annihilated Soto early due to the speed and style advantage. Gamboa, less experienced, but even quicker and very powerful from the looks of it can overwhelm Soto and score an early KO. That'll send him in the stratosphere and it's a perfect opponent for him stylistically. I can't see how Soto would deal with him personally, he's just too explosive and too quick. Honestly... unless Gamboa is chinny(I hope not) or has stamina issue's, I really can't see ANYONE dealing with him. But if he is chinny or has stamina issue's, it's going to bring this train to a halt until he improves, which an early loss could even be a good thing for him and his development honestly.
His chin and stamina are the only two things I'm concerned about. If I knew, right now, that he possessed an iron-chin and 12 round, top-notch stamina, I'd pick him over everybody from 126-130.
I would also, because if he could throw like that for 12 rounds and could take a top notch shot from a puncher, nobody would be able to deal with him, he's so insanely accurate and fast. I'd extend that to 135 also.
I'd favor Guzman over Diaz, and because Gamboa brings a similar style, I'd favor him too. Katsidis would get sliced up, the older Diaz and Casamayor are, well...too old, and Khan isn't half the prospect Gamboa is. Campbell? I'd favor an iron-chinned Gamboa over him. He'd be landing more punches and doing the better work. During exchanges, his defense and anticipation would prevent him from getting hit too much and his faster hands would be carrying the day. Yeah, I'd extend that too:good
Yeah but if he's got stamina issue's or chin issue's, I'd favour all of those guys except the old Casa, Khan and Katsidis over him, Katsidis, even with a china chinned gamboa would just get obliterated, he's not that great.
Do you anticipate Casa still having enough left to take care of Katsidis? Will the same version that lost to Santa Cruz cut it?
