Haney washes Gamboa, wants Lopez next
In the DAZN main event, WBC world lightweight champion Devin “The Dream” Haney (25-0, 15 KO’s) won his second title defense by way of unanimous decision. His in-ring foe, former world champion Yuriorkis “El Ciclon de Guantanamo” Gamboa (30-4, 18 KO’s), has now lost back to back fights. In his last outing, against regular WBA world lightweight champion Gervonta Davis, not only was he knocked out, he suffered a serious leg injury.
Although there is no doubt that Haney is a supreme talent, he has come under some scrutiny for his selecting Gamboa to fight. Due to all his losses coming by stoppage, his age and recovering from a torn Achilles heel, few gave Gamboa a legitimate chance of winning. The best that the Dream could hope to accomplish was toppling Gamboa in the quickest and most devastating fashion than anyone else.
HANEY WHITEWASHES GAMBOA
Haney opened the first quarter of the fight by dominating the shorter Gamboa with his lead jab. The young champion regularly shot the sharp punch to the head and stabbed the body. It was the older former Olympian who pressed the action but could not get anything done. With the coming of the fourth, the Dream began landing a number of stiff straight rights and crunching right hooks.
As compared to the rest, Gamboa enjoyed his best round in the fifth. This was because he was able to land several good shots. However, he did not do well enough to carry the period. Over the next two rounds, El Ciclon continued to land at a higher rate than the first half of the bout. His right hook in particular was becoming a reliable money shot. Despite his relative success, Haney was still landing far more shots in general and significantly more power shots.
The bout got far scrappier during the eighth and ninth rounds as both fighters threw with more gusto. The only drawback to the increased fireworks was the increased clinching and holding. When on the outside, Haney was content to sharp shoot Gamboa, yet on the inside there was far too much clinching.
The fight retained the same feel until the eleventh when referee Telis Assimenios finally took a point from Gamboa for excessive holding. Clearly, the Dream was still looking for the knockout and fought extremely aggressively for the entire twelfth round. The Californian dug piercing hooks to the ribs and head with mean intentions. Despite his best efforts, Haney was unable to score the stoppage. When the scorecards were read, the Dream walked away with a unanimous decision victory. Two of the three judges had it as a complete shutout
I WANT UNDISPUTED FIGHT NEXT!
With the Gamboa fight now behind him, Haney can now focus on his next move. If given his way, the gifted Californian will pen a fight with IBF, WBA and WBO world lightweight champion Teofimo “The Take Over” Lopez (16-0, 12 KO’s). The two have barked back and forth with one another, yet nothing tangible has materialized.
Not only would a bout between them be entertaining, it would clear up some WBC created nonsense. This is due to Lopez holding the WBC’s ridiculous ‘Franchise’ distinction, while Haney has the legitimate WBC world lightweight championship belt. A Haney v Lopez showdown would be a true fight for the undisputed champion of the division. Unlike the falsely billed fight for undisputed staged by Lopez and former world champion Vasiliy “Hi-Tech” Lomachenko (14-2, 10 KO’s).
In his post-fight interview, Haney clarified that he would like Lopez next. Now we will just have to wait and see how it all plays out.
By: Bakari Simpson
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