Finally, Something Good from Gitmo

There’s a great night of boxing ahead on Saturday: a handful of up-and-comers on HBO, including can’t-miss prospect Yuriorkis Gamoa. Gamboa, a Cuban defector with some of fastest hands in the game (and the best name in sports since World B. Free), is ranked fifth in the WBA super-featherweight rankings after just nine bouts. You could compare him to Roy Jones, Jr. for his speed and the crazy-angled punches. The way he stands in front of his man without ever taking much punishment makes Jake Donovan of Maxboxing think of James Toney. He also reminds me of Meldrick Taylor because of both the hand speed and the volume of punches. But of course, Gamboa is just a pup; lots of guys make you think of Roy Jones in their first few fights and then wind up making themselves famous while lying on their backs. In Darling Jimenez, Gamboa faces a decent opponent on Saturday, but even if he wins, his people would be crazy to stick him in with WBA champ Edwin Valero. Valero has knocked out each of his 23 opponents, 19 of them in the first round. As fast as he is (and that’s a lot faster than Valero), Gamboa’s hands spend way too much time at his thighs to risk being in with a guy is probably the hardest puncher in the sport.


Further south, in my beautiful dustbowl of a city called Torreón, Coahuila, we have the 115-pound unifier between Alexander Muñoz and Cristian Mijares. Of course, I can’t go because I have a wedding that night. Incidentally, I’ve got a nice streak of weddings falling on fight nights: my cousin Alex got married the night of the Tszyu-Mitchell rematch in 2004; friend Anthony tied the knot while Mayweather bludgeoned Gatti in 2005; brother John got hitched right before Klitschko buried Brock in 2006; friend Marcelino said his vows the night of the Cotto-Judah bloodbath in 2007; and now this. I’m sure it goes back further, I just can’t think of too many weddings before that. Don King, Bob Arum, Gary Shaw, et al: could you guys please start checking my social calendar?