Yuriorkis Gamboa is a former featherweight world champion, and durable fighter who has shared the ring with many of today’s pound-for-pound elites.
Gamboa holds a record of 30-5, having fought for the last time in 2022 after three consecutive losses.
He has faced the likes of Devin Haney, Gervonta Davis, and Terence Crawford, but was beaten in far more dominant fashion by a former Mexican champion.
Yuriorkis Gamboa weathered the storm against Crawford, Davis, and Haney, but couldn’t face up the the onslaught of Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz
Gamboa lost for the first time in 2014 as he and Crawford faced off for Crawford’s WBO lightweight title.
The fight was staged in ‘Bud’ Crawford’s hometown of Omaha, Nebraska, and saw him and Gamboa, both 23-0, fight up until the ninth round. Crawford outboxed Gamboa and stopped him in the ninth, after dropping him first in the fifth and eighth rounds.
Gamboa won seven of his next eight fights before his losing streak started, and his career began its descent.
In 2019 Gamboa fought ‘Tank’ Davis, in a mostly one-sided affair. Despite Davis dominating the action, he struggled to knock out Gamboa, who, according to BoxRec, twisted his ankle in the second round.
Davis, who KO’d Jose Pedraza, knocked Gamboa down in rounds two, eight, and twelve, with the final-round knockdown prompting the referee to step in.
Gamboa’s next fight and loss came at the hands of Haney, who outboxed him en route to a shutout decision victory for the WBC lightweight title.
His next fight would be his final, after Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz dropped him in rounds two, three, and four, before stopping him once and for all in round five, four rounds quicker than Crawford, seven rounds quicker than Davis. Gamboa was 40 years of age at the time though.
Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz lost his world title last year in razor-close decision
Last year, three fights after his win over Gamboa, Cruz faced Rolly Romero for the WBA super lightweight world title.
Romero won the title in a highly controversial stoppage of Ismael Barroso but was stopped by Cruz in the eighth round of their fight, securing victory for the Mexican.
‘Pitbull’ is one of few men to survive to the final bell against ‘Tank’, though Cruz was homeless before boxing took off for him.
Following his won over Romero, who faces Ryan Garcia in May, Cruz failed to defend his belt against Jose ‘Rayo’ Valenzuela. Valenzuela was robbed in his fight with Chris Colbert, but bounced back to defeat Colbert, and subsequently Cruz for the title.
The world title moved around a lot, as Valenzuela lost it in his next fight too, to Gary Antuanne Russell, who has a 89.5% KO rate.