What should Yuriorkis Gamboa do?

[londoner]

Should Gamboa stay at featherweight and fight the best available or should he move up in search of better opposition?

 

Potential opponents:

 

Featherweight: Lopez, Salido, Gonzalez, John, Barros, Garcia, Russel Jr, Caballero, Hasegawa.

 

Super featherweight: Broner, Uchiyama, Ao, Perez, Solis, Salgado, Magdaleno, Litzau.

 

Lightweight: Marquez, Rios, Katsidis, Mitchell, Burns, Vazquez, Acosta, Linares, Antillon, DeMarco, Molina, Lundy.

 

I haven't included Humberto Soto or Robert Guerrero at lightweight as Soto has moved up and Guerrero was planning to before he got injured.

[Wheelchair]

Stay at Feather and have a war with Lopez.

[londoner]

In my opinion, as long as he isn't struggling to make 126lbs (which could be the case), he should stay at featherweight.

 

Super featherweight is very bland right now and unless he's willing to go to Japan to fight Uchiyama or Ao he won't find himself being able to win many titles.

 

Gamboa should become the number 1 fighter at 126lbs before he thinks about moving up in weight IMO.

 

At 126lbs he has Salido, Lopez, John, Gonzalez all to fight now. I think Garcia would then make for a great fight later down the line, maybe if they're both at 130lbs in a year or so.

 

If Donaire wants to move up to 126 then that would be a great fight too. Although i think Donaire should stay at 118lbs and fight the likes of Mares and Agbeko followed by the likes of Nishioka, Rigondeaux and Arce at 122lbs.

 

I want to see guys stay at their weight classes for 2 or 3 years more to clean out the division before constantly moving up in weight. Gamboa has 3 or 4 options at 126, then he has another 2 or 3 options at 130 and finally in 4 or 5 years time he will find himself at 135lbs in an altogether new landscape.

 

Why rush all the way to 135lbs only to get beaten up by Brandion Rios? Or all the way to 147lbs to get beaten up by Pacquiao?

[grapevine241]

just stay at feather. the lopez fight has lost most of its luster but its not like the fight is going to be any less exciting

[RAZZ-MCFC]

In my opinion, as long as he isn't struggling to make 126lbs (which could be the case), he should stay at featherweight.

 

Super featherweight is very bland right now and unless he's willing to go to Japan to fight Uchiyama or Ao he won't find himself being able to win many titles.

 

Gamboa should become the number 1 fighter at 126lbs before he thinks about moving up in weight IMO.

 

At 126lbs he has Salido, Lopez, John, Gonzalez all to fight now. I think Garcia would then make for a great fight later down the line, maybe if they're both at 130lbs in a year or so.

 

If Donaire wants to move up to 126 then that would be a great fight too. Although i think Donaire should stay at 118lbs and fight the likes of Mares and Agbeko followed by the likes of Nishioka, Rigondeaux and Arce at 122lbs.

 

I want to see guys stay at their weight classes for 2 or 3 years more to clean out the division before constantly moving up in weight. Gamboa has 3 or 4 options at 126, then he has another 2 or 3 options at 130 and finally in 4 or 5 years time he will find himself at 135lbs in an altogether new landscape.

 

Why rush all the way to 135lbs only to get beaten up by Brandion Rios? Or all the way to 147lbs to get beaten up by Pacquiao?

 

If he's struggling to make the weight then it's not his choice to stay at featherweight anymore. He definitely is struggling to make weight nowadays as his last two weigh ins he's ended up bollock naked to scrape under the limit.

 

I'm interested as to why you think he'd get beaten up by Rios also? Gamboa is a better boxer than Rios and i'd say he hits harder, although whether that power will carry up in weight remains to be seen. I think Rios is a great fighter and would no doubt would be the favourite, but for me, Rios is yet to face anybody who can box efficiently. Acosta was the closest he came but even he came unstuck. Gamboa definitely has the tools and skills to beat Rios, and it's far from a foregone conclusion in my opinion. And i also voted move up to 135 so this is a fight i'd love to see in the future.

 

The reason i voted for the move to 135. Well i took in to account that he struggles to make the featherweight limit nowadays so a longer stay at the weight may eventually be his undoing as he could start to become weight drained to an extent. If it was my choice i'd have him clean up at feather first, fights against John and Juanma would be nice and then consider the move up. But in terms of career smart, it just doesn't make sense for him to stay at the weight anymore if he's struggling to make the weight. I skipped out super feather in the vote because to me it's a very weak division that he'd get no credit for if he was to beat the best in the division and win a world title there, although i think it's inevitable that he'll fight there at some point in the future before his move to 135.

[londoner]

I'm interested as to why you think he'd get beaten up by Rios also? Gamboa is a better boxer than Rios and i'd say he hits harder, although whether that power will carry up in weight remains to be seen. I think Rios is a great fighter and would no doubt would be the favourite, but for me, Rios is yet to face anybody who can box efficiently. Acosta was the closest he came but even he came unstuck. Gamboa definitely has the tools and skills to beat Rios, and it's far from a foregone conclusion in my opinion. And i also voted move up to 135 so this is a fight i'd love to see in the future.

 

I think Rios destroys him to be honest. Gamboa is possibly a better boxer but i think Rios' own skills get somewhat discredited. He isn't just a brawler, he can actually box pretty well. He has a good jab, pretty decent skills, is a relentless and aggressive puncher and has a great chin. He is also taller by a couple of inches and has more reach. Gamboa on the other hand does have skill but he has been floored numerous times (Salido, Ramirez, Jimenez and De Jesus) although many of those were in the earlier days of his pro career.

 

I just don't see Rios being floored by that calibre of opponent and he has power in abundance. I see Rios flooring Gamboa and then piling on the pressure.

 

If Gamboa is struggling to make 126lbs then he should move up. He has fights against Adrien Broner and Eloy Perez at 130lbs and then several options at 135lbs.

[WelshDevilRob]

Move up and pick up a super feather belt.