Haney v Gamboa winner must face Campbell v Garcia winner
On December 7, WBC world lightweight champion Devin “The Dream” Haney (24-0, 15 KO’s) will snap a year long stretch of inactivity. He will do so by facing the challenge of Yuriorki “El Ciclon de Guantanamo” Gamboa (30-3, 18 KO’s). Regardless of who wins, neither will have to wait long to figure out who their next opponent will be.
According to WBC president, Mauricio Sulaimán, the winner of Haney versus Gamboa will have to fight the victor of Luke Campbell (20-3, 16 KO’s) versus Ryan Garcia. Campbell and Ryan “KingRy” Garcia (20-0, 17 KO’s) will collide one month after Haney on December 5.
“Yeah, the winner of Campbell v Garcia has to fight Haney. Better said, the winner of Haney/Gamboa will fight the winner of Garcia/Campbell.”
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LEAVING SOME WANTING
In terms of the upcoming Haney title fight, many in the boxing world are notably underwhelmed. This is largely due to the perception that Gamboa has long exceeded his ‘sell by date’. Sure, he should be able to offer a few good entertaining rounds of action. Overall however, very few give him a legitimate shot at usurping the title.
In the Guatemalans’ last outing, he suffered a gutsy TKO loss to ‘regular’ WBA world lightweight champion Gervonta “Tank” Davis (23-0, 22 KO’s). During that bout, he suffered an injury to his Achilles heel which left him flopping around like a peg-legged pirate. That injury, combined with his age and mileage, definitely does not help the already lackluster perception of this fight.
On the completely opposite end of the spectrum, there are a great deal of boxing aficionados who speculate that Ryan Garcia is biting off more than he can chew. Campbell is, by leaps and bounds, the most accomplished adversary that KingRy has faced to date. And if he was to be defeated, most would think that to be the logical outcome rather than a jaw-dropping surprise.
HOPE FOR THE FUTURE
Assuming that the Dream does come out on top, prizefights with either Campbell or Garcia should be warmly welcomed. In terms of Haney v Garcia, the two have already traded a number of back and forth media exchanges. It is beyond obvious that there is no bad blood and the two have a great deal of mutual respect having come up in the amateurs together. Yet, both firmly believe they can best the other and their collision should make for a fun scrap.
If Campbell was to defeat KingRy, many would view that bout as Haney’s new toughest out. Due to catching the 3x world challenger in his prime, there is little doubt he will be viewed as a higher commodity than Gamboa. However, before any particular combination of these bouts can transpire, they have to take care of their upcoming dates first.
By: Bakari Simpson
