Gamboa and Juanma both win – RESULTS

By Jim Dower: Juan ‘Juanma’ Lopez (36-6, 32 KOs) and Yuriorkis Gamboa (29-2, 17 KOs) both won last Saturday night in their respective bouts against Miguel “Barreterito” Beltran Jr. (33-7, 22 KOs) and Christian Ruben Mino (19-3. 17 KOs) at the Miami-Dade County Fair & Expo, Miami, Florida to setup a long overdue match between them for March of 2019.

Photos: David Martin-Warr

Power-wise, Gamboa and Lopez looked as good as always. Both fighters showed excellent punching power in beating their over-matched opposition.

2004 Olympic gold medalist and former IBF/WBA World featherweight champion Gamboa beat journeyman Miguel “Barreterito” Beltran Jr. (33-7, 22 KOs) by a lopsided 10 round unanimous decision by the scores 100-89. 99-90 and 98-91. Boxing News 24 scored it for the 36-year-old Gamboa by a 99-90 score.

Gamboa knocked Beltran down in the 1st, but he lost his momentum and was unable to finish him off. Beltran showed a good chin, and forced Gamboa to go the distance with him. Gamboa’s hand speed and power both looked good. A younger Gamboa would have likely knocked Beltran Jr. out.

The win for Gamboa was his third consecutive since losing to Robinson Castellanos by a 7th round stoppage last year in May 2017. Since that defeat, Gamboa has beaten Alexis Reyes, Jason Sosa and Beltran Jr. The win over former WBA super featherweight champion Sosa was a superb one for Gamboa, showing that he can still hang with the best when he wants to. The loss for Beltran Jr. was his third in his last five fight.

Juanma, 35, defeated inexperienced 22-year-old Argentinian Christian Ruben Mino (19-3. 17 KOs) by a 10 round unanimous decision. The judges’ scores were 97-88, 96-89, and 96-89.

When Lopez and Gamboa were in their primes, they were supposed to face each other seven years ago, but their promoter tried to let the fight marinate and it cost them with Juanma losing to Orlando Salido twice in 2011 and 2012. Lopez’s once fine career never recovered from those losses, making it pointless for his management to put him in with Gamboa back then. It’s too bad Gamboa and Lopez were unable to face each other while the two of them were still at their best more or less, but their promoter at the time felt it was necessary to let the fight marinate.

Other boxing results on the Gamboa-Beltran Jr. & Lopez-Mino card:

Undefeated welterweight Harold Calderon (18-0, 11 KOs) defeated Emiliano Martin Garcia (16-3, 13 KOs) by a 7th round knockout. Garcia was down three times in the fight in in getting flattened in the 2nd and two more times in the 7th. The fight was halted at 1:11 of round seven.

Undefeated super bantamweight Jorge De Jesus Romero (12-0, 9 KOs) stayed unbeaten with a one-sided eight round unanimous decision victory over journeyman Jason Vera (5-6, 3 KOs). The judges’ scores were 80-72, 80-72 and 80-72.