Undefeated Cuban star Yuriorkis Gamboa makes his much-anticipated return to the ring on Saturday night after a 15-month lay-off from the sport punctuated by contractual wranglings and a collapsed mega-fight.
The 30-year-old will be making his debut at super-featherweight against Michael Farenas of the Philippines at the MGM Grand, in a battle for the WBA’s interim 130lb title that was originally scheduled for Gamboa to fight Miguel Beltran Jr.
Beltran pulled out of the fight however, claiming to have not recovered from his tough split-decision loss to Roman Martinez in September. But whilst that was surely a disappointment for Gamboa, he’s had much bigger issues to contend with this year.
Gamboa (21-0 16 KOs) was last in action in September 2011 scoring an eighth round technical decision win over Daniel Ponce de Leon, a victory that ultimately led to a step up two divisions from featherweight to take on Mexican lightweight monster Brandon Rios.
A battle between Gamboa and Rios meant a mouth-watering clash of styles for boxing fans and was perceived as a real 50-50 fight. In an era when undefeated talents are generally protected from the elite in their own weight class, here were two fighters from different weight divisions with everything to lose who had signed to fight each other. Or had they?
According to Gamboa, negotiations were under way for a fight with Rios on April 14th but he had not signed the contract agreeing to terms when Top Rank went ahead with a press conference. Cue Gamboa not showing up, Top Rank threatening to sue and Rios instead moving on to defeat Richard Abril in horribly controversial fashion.
Gamboa meanwhile would be fighting Top Rank in the courtroom and subsequently split from Bob Arum’s promotional stable, before signing with Floyd Mayweather Jr and 50 Cent’s ill fated venture TMT Promotions. When TMT split, Gamboa would join 50 Cent’s solo promotional effort SMS promotions, though had to wait until early November for his new handler to gain a licence.
Questions hover over which Gamboa we expect to see on Saturday. Will ring rust be evident? Or will the knockout artist take out the frustrations of the past year and three months on Farenas and dispatch his relatively unheralded opponent in brutal and impressive fashion?
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