Yuriorkis Gamboa Toledano (born 23 December 1981) is a Cuban
professional boxer
Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional bouts are supervised by a regulatory autho ...
. He is a former
unified featherweight
Featherweight is a weight class in the combat sports of boxing, kickboxing, mixed martial arts, and Greco-Roman wrestling.
Boxing
Professional boxing
History
A featherweight boxer weighs in at a limit of . In the early days of the division, t ...
world champion, having held the
WBA and
IBF
The International Boxing Federation (IBF) is one of four major organizations recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) which sanctions professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Counci ...
titles between 2009 and 2011, as well as the WBA interim championship in both the
super featherweight and
lightweight
Lightweight is a weight class in combat sports and rowing.
Boxing
Professional boxing
The lightweight division is over 130 pounds (59 kilograms) and up to 135 pounds (61.2 kilograms) weight class in the sport of boxing.
Notable lightweight ...
divisions. As an
amateur he won a gold medal in the
flyweight
Flyweight is a weight class in combat sports.
Boxing
Flyweight is a class in boxing which includes fighters weighing above 49 kg (108 lb) and up to 51 kg (112 lb).
Professional boxing
The flyweight division was the last of b ...
division at the
2004 Olympics, and bronze in the featherweight division at the
2005 World Championships.
Amateur highlights
*Four-time Cuban national champion
*2003 Pan American Games gold medalist
*2004 Olympic gold medalists
*2005 World Amateur Boxing Championships bronze medalist
*2006 Central American and Caribbean Games bronze medalist
*2006 World Cup champion
Gamboa's
2004 Olympic Boxing results were:
*Round of 32 – Defeated
Igor Samoilenco
Igor Samoilenco (born April 17, 1977 in Tiraspol, Moldavian SSR) is a retired male boxer from Moldova. He twice represented his native Eastern European country at the Summer Olympics: 1996 and 2004. Samoilenco claimed a bronze medal at the 2002 ...
of Moldava – PTS (46-33)
*Round of 16 – Defeated
Somjit Jongjohor
Somjit Jongjohor ( th, สมจิตร จงจอหอ, , ; born January 19, 1975) is an amateur Thai boxer best known for winning gold medals in the flyweight division at the 2003 World Amateur Boxing Championships and at the Beijing 200 ...
of Thailand – PTS (26-21)
*Quarterfinals – Defeated
Georgy Balakshin
Georgy Ruslanovich Balakshin (russian: Георгий Русланович Балакшин; born March 6, 1980 in Antonovka, near Nyurba, Sakha Republic) is an Olympic boxer from Russia best known for winning the European title three times.
Ca ...
of Russia – PTS (26-18)
*Semifinals – Defeated
Rustamhodza Rahimov of Germany – PTS (20-11)
*Gold Medal Match – Defeated
Jérôme Thomas
Jérôme Cedric Thomas (born 20 January 1979) is a French former boxer, he competed in the flyweight (– 51 kg) division as an amateur and as a bantamweight as a professional.
Amateur boxing career
Thomas won the world championship at ...
of France – PTS (38-23)
Defection
While training in
Venezuela
Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...
, Gamboa, along with Cuban teammates
Odlanier Solís
Odlanier Solís Fonte (born 5 April 1980) is a Cuban professional boxer. He has challenged once for the WBC heavyweight title in 2011, and is a former top-rated contender in that division. As an amateur heavyweight, Solis was one of the mo ...
and
Yan Bartelemí
Yan Barthelemy Varela (born March 5, 1980, Matanzas) is a Cuban-American amateur boxer, who won the gold medal in the light flyweight division (– 48 kg) at the 2004 Summer Olympics.
Amateur career
* 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens ...
, snuck out of camp and found their way to
Colombia and eventually to Germany, where they applied for visas to enter the United States. Before defecting, he had sold his Olympic gold medal to support his family.
Professional career
Debut in Germany
Gamboa made his
professional boxing debut on 27 April 2007, in
Hamburg
(male), (female) en, Hamburger(s),
Hamburgian(s)
, timezone1 = Central (CET)
, utc_offset1 = +1
, timezone1_DST = Central (CEST)
, utc_offset1_DST = +2
, postal ...
, Germany against Alexan Manvelyan. He prepared for his pro debut and his next seven fights with technical specialist Manny Masson. Gamboa put Manvelyan on the canvas in the third round and won via
unanimous decision
A unanimous decision (UD) is a winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts and other sports involving striking and submission in which all three judges agree on which fighte ...
victory. Two months later, he defeate
Araik Sachbazjanwhen Sachbazjan retired before the beginning of round four.
Debut in the United States
After winning his first four fights in Germany, Gamboa made his United States debut on 30 October 2007, at the
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in
Hollywood, Florida, against Adailton De Jesus, who was dropped to the canvas halfway through the first round. A Gamboa slip in the fourth round was ruled a knockdown by the referee. Gamboa's relentless pressure eventually forced a stoppage in the sixth and final round.
Gamboa fought Gilberto Luque on 5 January 2008, at
Bally's Hotel & Casino in
Atlantic City, New Jersey. Gamboa sent his opponent to the canvas less than 30 seconds into first round with a left hand. After two more knockdowns, the referee stopped the fight. On 22 February 2008, in
Fort Lauderdale, Florida, he made his American television debut against Johnnie Edwards. Gamboa knocked Edwards down in the first 30 seconds of the fight after connecting with a left hand to the head. Edwards got up, but was met with left-hand punches from Gamboa, ending with two consecutive right hands that knocked Edwards down for the second and final time as the referee moved in and halted the fight in round one. Gamoba won the vacant
WBC-
NABF super featherweight title.
On 17 May 2008, at
Buffalo Bill's Star Arena in
Primm, Nevada
Primm (formerly known as State Line) is an unincorporated community in Clark County, Nevada, United States, primarily notable for its position straddling Interstate 15 where it crosses the state border between California and Nevada. It sits on ...
, Gamboa fought
Darling Jimenez. Gamboa started off well in the first three rounds of the fight, swarming Jimenez and hitting him with punches over and over but got careless and was knocked down by a right hand behind the ear from Jimenez. Gamboa got up and finished the fight strong, winning by unanimous decision and claiming the vacant WBC International super featherweight title.
After the fight, Gamboa's promoter Ahmet Öner fired Gamboa's trainer Osmiri Fernandez, replacing him with Ismeal Salas. On 18 July 2008, stepping down to
featherweight
Featherweight is a weight class in the combat sports of boxing, kickboxing, mixed martial arts, and Greco-Roman wrestling.
Boxing
Professional boxing
History
A featherweight boxer weighs in at a limit of . In the early days of the division, t ...
, Gamboa scored a first-round
technical knockout
A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving strikin ...
(TKO) victory over
Al Seeger to win the vacant
WBO-
NABO featherweight title at Buffalo Bill's Star Arena. A left
hook
A hook is a tool consisting of a length of material, typically metal, that contains a portion that is curved or indented, such that it can be used to grab onto, connect, or otherwise attach itself onto another object. In a number of uses, one e ...
to the body set up a right hand that landed across Seeger's face, causing him to collapse backwards flat onto the canvas. The referee stepped over Seeger without bothering to count, officially stopping the bout.
On 5 October 2008, Gamboa stepped up in class and fought
Marcos Ramirez, a
Kansas City featherweight in
Temecula, California
Temecula (; es, Temécula, ; Luiseño: ''Temeekunga'') is a city in southwestern Riverside County, California, United States. The city had a population of 110,003 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and was Municipal corporation, i ...
. Gamboa exhibited amazing hand speed and quick combination punching in the first round before he was dropped by Ramirez. Gamboa quickly came to his feet and resumed fighting until the bell rang to signify the end of the round. In the second round, Gamboa picked up where he left off and knocked Ramirez down with a fast right uppercut, followed by another combination. Ramirez let the referee administer the eight count before rising to his feet. Gamboa then finished the fight by pressuring Ramirez into the ropes and landing a left hook to the body, followed by a right uppercut to the jaw. Gamboa's next fight took place at Buffalo Bill's Star Arena on 9 January 2009 against Roger Gonzalez. Gamboa used quick combinations from the beginning of the third round to relentlessly attack Gonzalez. Gamboa began his assault after going down during the second round, after absorbing a sneaky right hand by Gonzalez. The referee halted the one-sided bout with 48 seconds remaining after Gonzalez sustained a barrage of punches to the head. Gamboa led 89–82 on one judge's scorecard and 89–83 on the other two judges' cards through nine rounds.
On 20 February 2009, Gamboa fought
Walter Estrada
Walter Estrada (born May 6, 1976 in Canalete) is a Colombian professional boxer and is the former WBA Fedecaribe Featherweight Champion.
Professional career
WBO Featherweight Championship
In his first World title fight Estrada lost to WBO Feath ...
at
The University Center at Nova Southeastern University
Nova Southeastern University’s 366,000 square-foot Don Taft University Center is a critical piece in the infrastructure of the university. It was constructed over a period of two years. The inaugural event hosted the comedian Jamie Kennedy on Au ...
. Gamboa knocked out Estrada with a left hook to the body followed by a right hand to the face 25 seconds into the fight.
Featherweight
On 17 April 2009 Gamboa stopped Jose Rojas via tenth-round TKO to win the
WBA interim
An interim is a period of temporary pause or change in a sequence of events, or a temporary state, and is often applied to transitional political entities.
Interim may also refer to:
Temporary organizational arrangements (general concept)
*Provis ...
featherweight title. On 10 October 2009 Gamboa stopped Whyber Garcia in the fourth round to win the WBA featherweight title.
On 23 January 2010, at the WaMu Theater in
Madison Square Garden, he defeated
Rogers Mtagwa in two rounds. Gamboa buzzed Mtagwa several times from several angles and scored a knockdown in the final ten seconds with a counter hook. He continued the damage in the second round, battering Mtagwa and sending him down two more times before the fight was stopped. On 27 March 2010 at Hamburg, Germany Gamboa dominated Argentinian boxer
Jonathan Victor Barros in twelve rounds to retain the WBA featherweight title with a unanimous decision.
Gamboa vs. Salido
On 11 September 2010, Gamboa fought
''The'' ''Ring'' No. 3 ranked featherweight
Orlando Salido
Orlando Salido Rivera (born November 16, 1980) is a Mexican former professional boxer who competed from 1996 to 2017. He is a multiple-time former world champion in two weight classes, having held the IBF featherweight title in 2010; the WBO fe ...
to unify the WBA and
IBF
The International Boxing Federation (IBF) is one of four major organizations recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) which sanctions professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Counci ...
featherweight titles with the result being Gamboa winning by unanimous decision. Salido knocked down Gamboa in the eighth round. Gamboa knocked Salido down twice in the twelfth round, but was docked two points for hitting Salido in the back of his head while Salido was down. With this win Gamboa became the first Cuban boxer to hold the IBF world title since the organization's inception.
Gamboa vs. Solís
On 26 March 2011 Gamboa fought
Jorge Solís
Jorge Iván Solís Pérez (born 23 October 1979) is a Mexican former professional boxer. He is a former holder of various minor and regional titles including, the Jalisco State Featherweight title, WBC Latin America title, Mexican Super Ban ...
to defend his WBA featherweight title. Although the fight was originally agreed to contest both of Gamboa's WBA and IBF featherweight titles, Gamboa missed a mandatory re-weighing procedure established by the IBF which resulted in the title being withdrawn. The fight lasted only four rounds after Gamboa sent Solis to the floor a total of five times, causing referee David Fields to stop the fight, giving Gamboa the victory by TKO. After the fight, Gamboa was interviewed, a moment that Gamboa took advantage of to express his awareness and support towards the victims of Japan's latest
earthquake
An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, fr ...
and
tsunami
A tsunami ( ; from ja, 津波, lit=harbour wave, ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater exp ...
. Gamboa also took the opportunity to proclaim his desire to fight higher caliber featherweight boxers such as Indonesian
Chris John and Puerto Rican
Juan Manuel López, who was attending the fight as a spectator and decided to come up to the ring and proclaim his desire for a possible fight with Gamboa as he also made the observation that it was a business decision to be taken by their shared promoter
Bob Arum
Robert Arum (born December 8, 1931) is an American lawyer and boxing promoter. He is the founder and CEO of Top Rank, a professional boxing promotion company based in Las Vegas. Prior to becoming a boxing promoter, Arum was employed as an attorn ...
.
Gamboa vs. de León
On 10 September 2011, Gamboa fought ''Ring'' top 10 ranked featherweight
Daniel Ponce de León
Daniel Ponce de León (born July 27, 1980) is a Mexican former professional boxer who competed from 2001 to 2014. He was a world champion two weight classes, having held the WBO super bantamweight title from 2005 and 2008, and the WBC featherw ...
in a non-title fight. Gamboa managed to connect more punches in every round to keep the scorecards in his favor. Although there were not many exchanges, Gamboa's hand speed and reflexes were on display as he connected with quick and short combinations and managed to avoid some of de León's left swings with his characteristic upper body movement. In the eighth round, during a short exchange, Gamboa and de León accidentally clashed heads, resulting in de León suffering a cut to his forehead, consequently the referee stopped the fight and asked de León's corner to check the boxer's wound. After having tried and failed to stop the bleeding it was determined by de León's team that their fighter was unable to continue in the fight.
On 26 October 2011, Gamboa hired world-famous
Emanuel Steward
Emanuel "Manny" Steward (July 7, 1944 – October 25, 2012) was an American boxer, trainer, and commentator for HBO Boxing. He was also called the Godfather of Detroit Boxing. Steward trained 41 world champion fighters throughout his care ...
as his head trainer. Gamboa was initially set to return in April 2012 against
lightweight
Lightweight is a weight class in combat sports and rowing.
Boxing
Professional boxing
The lightweight division is over 130 pounds (59 kilograms) and up to 135 pounds (61.2 kilograms) weight class in the sport of boxing.
Notable lightweight ...
champion
Brandon Rios
Brandon may refer to:
Names and people
*Brandon (given name), a male given name
*Brandon (surname), a surname with several different origins
Places
Australia
*Brandon, a farm and 19th century homestead in Seaham, New South Wales
* Brandon, ...
, but he pulled out of the bout citing problems with his contract with
Top Rank
Top Rank, Inc. is a boxing promotional company founded by Jabir Herbert Muhammad and Bob Arum, which was incorporated in 1973, and is based in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Since its founding, Top Rank has promoted many world class fighters, including Muh ...
. After a long dispute between Gamboa and Top Rank, the two sides agreed to part ways, with Gamboa's contract being bought out for a flat fee. In July 2012, Gamboa signed a promotional contract with
50 Cent and
Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Floyd Joy Mayweather Jr. (''né'' Sinclair; February 24, 1977) is an American boxing promoter and former professional boxer. He currently owns a team in the NASCAR Cup Series named The Money Team Racing. As a professional boxer he competed b ...
's promotional company, ''The Money Team Promotions''.
Super featherweight
After the 50 Cent-Mayweather TMT Promotions never came to fruition, 50 Cent decided to make his own promotional company SMS Promotions and officially signed Gamboa. 50 Cent worked with Top Rank's Bob Arum and Mayweather's rival
Manny Pacquiao
Emmanuel Dapidran Pacquiao Sr. (; born December17, 1978) is a Filipino politician and former professional boxer. Nicknamed "PacMan", he is regarded as one of the greatest professional boxers of all time. He served as a Senator of the Phil ...
. Gamboa then landed a fight on the undercard of
Manny Pacquiao vs. Juan Manuel Márquez IV
Manny Pacquiao vs. Juan Manuel Márquez IV, was a professional boxing match. The winner of this bout would win a commemorative belt by the WBO known as "Champion of the Decade." This was the fourth and final meeting between Pacquiao and Márquez. ...
on 8 December 2012. He fought
Michael Farenas
Michael Farenas (born June 10, 1984 in Sorsogon, Philippines), is a Filipino professional boxer.
Born in Sorsogon, Farenas currently resides in Redondo Beach, California, California. He is a protégé of former world two division champion Gerry ...
, who fought to a draw in his previous fight with WBA title holder
Takashi Uchiyama
__NOTOC__
is a Japanese former professional boxer who competed from 2005 to 2016, having held the WBA (Super) super-featherweight title from 2010 to 2016.
Early life
He was born in Nagasaki Prefecture, grew up in Kasukabe, Saitama, and lives i ...
. Gamboa was show boating throughout the fight while Farenas maintained his focus. Farenas was dropped twice which gave Gamboa more confidence, dropping his hands occasionally. In the ninth round Gamboa tried to finish Farenas off with a barrage of punches but Farenas countered him with a left hook that dropped Gamboa. Gamboa stopped show boating after the ninth round, winning the fight by unanimous decision.
Performance-enhancing drug scandal
As he was moving up to lightweight, Gamboa was linked to performance-enhancing drugs through the Biogenesis scandal, which included Alex Rodriguez.
Lightweight
Gamboa eventually moved up in weight to take on undefeated
Darleys Pérez (28-0) for the vacant WBA interim lightweight title. Gamboa dropped Pérez in the first round and easily won most of the follow up rounds, Yuriorkis continued to have success on the outside winning almost all the middle rounds as well. Gamboa although fighting at an unusually measured pace at times consistently beat Pérez to the punch amassing a clear lead in the bout. Pérez came alive momentarily to drop Gamboa in the eleventh but this was ruled a slip and Yuriorkis Gamboa won a comfortable unanimous decision improving to 23–0.
Gamboa vs. Crawford
On 28 June 2014 Gamboa faced off against undefeated WBO titlist
Terence Crawford
Terence Allan Crawford (born September 28, 1987) is an American professional boxer. He has held multiple world championships in three weight classes, including the WBO welterweight title since 2018. Previously he held the WBO and '' Ring'' maga ...
on
HBO Boxing After Dark
''Boxing After Dark'' is an HBO boxing program, premiered on February 3, 1996, that usually showed fights between well-known contenders, but usually not "championship" or "title" fights. Unlike its sister program, ''HBO World Championship Boxin ...
. Gamboa got off to a hot start, winning the first four rounds and using his superior foot speed and hand speed but was caught and dropped by a right hook in the fifth round. Gamboa continued to fight back but was dropped again in the eighth and finally was stopped in the ninth round after two knockdowns and a huge right hook by Crawford. "We were just two warriors in the ring trying to get the victory, and he won." stated Gamboa after the bout. This was Gamboa's first loss as a professional ending his undefeated streak.
Career from 2014
After losing to Crawford, Gamboa started to become less active. He won three straight fights before suffering an upset loss against Robinson Castellanos. Gamboa faced
Jason Sosa
Jason Sosa (born March 10, 1988) is an American former professional boxer of Puerto Rican descent, who held the WBA (Regular) super featherweight title from 2016 to 2017.
Professional boxing career
Sosa made his professional debut in Novembe ...
on 25 November 2017 stepping in as a late replacement for Robinson Castellanos, Yuriorkis won a controversial majority decision. On July 27, 2019, Gamboa fought Roman Martinez. Gamboa knocked out Martinez in the second round.
Gamboa vs. Davis
On December 28, 2019, Gamboa fought
Gervonta Davis
Gervonta Davis ( ; born November 7, 1994) is an American professional boxer. He has held multiple world championships in three weight classes, including the WBA (Regular) lightweight title since 2019; the IBF super featherweight title in 2017; ...
for the vacant WBA (Regular) lightweight title. Davis was ranked #1, while Gamboa was ranked #2 at lightweight by the WBA. Davis knocked down Gamboa three times en route to a twelfth-round technical knockout win.
Gamboa vs. Haney
In his next fight, Gamboa challenged
Devin Haney
Devin Miles Haney (; born November 17, 1998) is an American professional boxer. He is the current undisputed lightweight champion, having held the WBC title since 2019 and the WBA (Super), IBF, WBO and ''Ring'' titles since June 2022. As of ...
for his WBC lightweight title. Gamboa was ranked #10 by the WBC, while Haney was the world's number two lightweight according to
''The Ring'' magazine rankings. Haney completely outboxed Gamboa en route to a unanimous decision victory, 120–107, 120–107 and 118–109 on the scorecards.
Professional boxing record
References
External links
Official website(archived)
*
Yuriorkis Gamboa - Profile, News Archive & Current Rankingsa
Box.Live
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gamboa, Yuriorkis
1981 births
Living people
Sportspeople from Guantánamo
Sportspeople convicted of crimes
People convicted of domestic violence
Boxers at the 2003 Pan American Games
Boxers at the 2004 Summer Olympics
Olympic gold medalists for Cuba
Doping cases in boxing
Defecting sportspeople of Cuba
Olympic boxers of Cuba
Featherweight boxers
Super-featherweight boxers
Lightweight boxers
International Boxing Federation champions
World Boxing Association champions
Olympic medalists in boxing
Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics
Cuban male boxers
AIBA World Boxing Championships medalists
Pan American Games gold medalists for Cuba
Pan American Games medalists in boxing
Central American and Caribbean Games bronze medalists for Cuba
Competitors at the 2006 Central American and Caribbean Games
Central American and Caribbean Games medalists in boxing
Medalists at the 2003 Pan American Games