Yuriorkas Gamboa wins unanimous over Orlando Salido

From Las Vegas, NEV., from The Pearl at the Palms Resort and Casino and Bob Arum’s Top Rank Incorporated in association with Arena Box Promotions and Tecate Cerveza Con Caracter with HBO Sports. Cuban star and WBA featherweight champion “The Cyclone of Guantanamo” Yuriorkis Gamboa (19-0, 15KOs) got up off the canvas to defeat IBF featherweight champion Orlando “El Siri” Salido (34-11-2, 22KOs), in a foul filled bout that saw Gamboa claim Salido’s title on HBO’s “Boxing After Dark.”

Each brawler came out sharing the ring and taking turns coming forward then at 1:28 of the 1st round Gamboa landed the first significant blow, a one-two jab-right upstairs that snapped back the head of the seasoned veteran. After a brief exchange where nothing landed they went back to feeling out each other’s game for the rest of the round. They came out trading body shots in the 2nd as Gamboa began moving, allowing Salido to take the role of aggressor as he came forward in search of Yuriorkis who was circling to his left and boxing. At 1:22 they both landed overhand rights to the head at the same time then Gamboa got cocky and laid his arms straight down at his sides and would throw combination’s from that stance launching his fist up from his waist. Gamboa’s speed was looking swift and far superior and towards the end of the round he landed a quick right uppercut and was out of sight before Salido could counter, then Gamboa clipped him with another right uppercut at rounds end.

Gamboa entered the third period on fire throwing lightning quick combination’s to the head and body consisting of right and left hooks peppered with right uppercuts overwhelming Salido momentarily. Salido was coming forward and throwing punches but not many were landing and the one’s that were seemed soft and ineffective compared to his foe’s work. Gamboa’s ability to punch moving backwards is impressive and he was clipping Salido with swift counters. The only fighter using the jab was Gamboa but he was just pushing it out there to keep distance, as this was a fight of power punches.

Their heads were coming together as they would both lunge in to attack and in the 4th round it became apparent that Salido had scuff mark on his left eye. They began clinching more often in the 4th and Salido was busier but still not finding success. Gamboa looked bored with Salido and landed the best punches so far at 2:02 of the round, a clean left hook – straight right combo to the jaw of Salido.

Coming into the 5th Gamboa was dominating Salido and landed a hard left hook to the side of Orlando’s jaw right out of the gates. In a clinch, they were rabbit-punching each other on the back of the head then Yuriorkis pushed back Orlando with a shoulder shrug which resulted in a warning to both fighters about rough house tactics from referee, the fair but firm Joe Cortez. Gamboa continued to pick apart the frustrated Salido and when Orlando showed that frustration with a shoulder shrug of his own, Yuriorkis unloaded a blazing eight punch combination. They started rough housing even more with pushing and shoulder shrugs but it was the frustrated Orlando Salido that seemed to be initiating most of it. At 1:36 of the 5th Gamboa pushed the off-balance Salido to the canvas with his right arm, ruled a slip and prompting another warning from the third man in the ring. The fighters kept getting their left arms intertwined then would unload on each other with their right-hands and it was getting sloppy. Salido was putting his head down and swinging right and lefts with abandoned and at :40 seconds of round five he landed a firm looping overhand right to the nose of Gamboa.

Salido came out in the 6th busier and began to find some success with his right and left hooks to the head and body as they started fighting on the inside more, which caused Gamboa to pick up the pace a little and throw more combination’s but Salido hung with him in a close round that Gamboa still probably won. Gamboa turned up the heat at the outset of the 7th, throwing many punches with both hands in succession and they began to trade, with Yuriorkis getting the better of it. Gamboa had the far superior skills and Salido would only find success when Gamboa would slow down and throw one-two’s instead of four to six punch combinations which Orlando could not compete with. When it seemed as though Gamboa could easily outbox Salido in scintillating fashion with a deft beat down, he opted for the more laid back approach only blessing the fans with glimpses of his brilliance. Yuriorkis got boastful at the end of the 7th hopping about and clearly threw a left jab after the bell that landed on Salido’s chin and Orlando responded by throwing a right that didn’t land and referee Joe Cortez wrangled Salido by the neck to make sure there was no more extra curricular fighting.

Gamboa entered the next round at a quick pace again firing off combinations and landed a hard right uppercut followed by a stiff right-hand to the face of Orlando Salido that had the Mexican retreating and Gamboa encroaching quick, then Orlando put his head down and threw a looping right hook out of nowhere that clipped Yuriorkis flush on the nostrils sending his feet sliding under him as he crashed to the canvas for the fifth time in his career and took the eight count from the referee. Salido began throwing punches with bad intentions going after Gamboa who rose to his feet quickly and caught Yuriorkis with a right uppercut. While they were in a long clinch Salido employed some dirty boxing and was clipping Gamboa with hard left hooks until Joe Cortez broke it up, and we had some drama heading to the last leg of the scrap.

In-between rounds eight and nine Gamboa’s corner told him all he had to do was box, reaffirming Yuriorkis of his superior technical ability. Thirty seconds into the 9th Salido landed a double left hook to the chin of Gamboa then they got tangled together and both fell to the canvas with Salido laying on top off Gamboa. Salido won the 9th and came out with a rejuvenated cause in the 10th and a bounce to his demeanor landing a straight right to the mouth of Gamboa in a fight that was tightening up quickly. Right when things were looking on the up-and-up for Salido, Gamboa cracked him with a hard left hook to the jaw line that rocked Salido then followed with a hard straight right and Orlando grasped onto Yuriorkis as he was hurt. A hurt Salido then threw a wide left hook that was feet from Gamboa, causing Orlando to lose his footing and slip hard to the canvas. After Salido got up from the slippage he clinched his opponent a couple times and survived a round in which he almost got dropped.

Gamboa’s corner told him to go for the knockout and he followed direction starting the championship rounds aggressive landing a hard left hook and right-hand thirty seconds into the 11th that pushed Salido back into the corner and seemed to hurt him as he held on for dear life. In the corner, after Gamboa was able to free himself of Salido’s clinch, he lunged forward with his head throwing a combination at Salido and their heads came together with a cut opening up over Orlando’s left eye on his forehead as he complained to Joe Cortez about Gamboa leading with his head. Referee Joe Cortez stopped the action and had the ringside doctor view the injury and Joe verbally indicated that it was an accidental head-butt. A confident Gamboa starting shooting hard right-hands to the mid-section of Salido that slowed him down and at :41 seconds Gamboa connceted with a hard lead-right uppercut.

Gamboa rose to the occasion in the championship rounds and clipped the top of Salido’s dome thirty seconds into the 12th and final round that dropped Orlando to one hand for the knockdown as he quickly rose and argued with the referee claiming it was no knockdown when clearly it was. At 2:04 Gamboa backed Salido into the corner with an uppercut to the gut followed by a hard straight right that sent Orlando into the ropes. Salido was hurt and Gamboa went in for the kill throwing non stop rights and lefts up top that battered Salido against the ropes and drove him into the mat for another knockdown, but Gamboa accosted Orlando while he was already down and basically threw a 90 degree punch down on top of the back of Salido’s head that hurt him and had Joe Cortez yanking Gamboa off of Orlando and giving him the needed time to recover from the foul as Cortez verbally confirmed that he hit him while he was down. The doc came in and checked Salido who indicated he was okay then rose to his feet to fight on, but before the fighting resumed Cortez deducted two points from Gamboa for the cheap shot, but did not rule it a knockdown for Gamboa which it was, before he went and fouled him on the ground. The fighters traded blows for the rest of the12th in a bizarre final round which was probably scored a rare 8-8, during of which Salido was dropped twice but only one was ruled a knockdown and Gamboa had two points deducted for hitting his opponent while he was down.

When the score cards were read it was a unanimous decision victory for Yuriorkis Gamboa with scores of 116-109, 114-109 and 115-109, claiming Orlando Salido’s IBF title to add to his own WBA strap, unifying the titles and making “The Cyclone of Guantanamo” Yuriorkis Gamboa, the new WBA/IBF featherweight world champion improving his record to 19-0, 15KOs.

Gamboa defended his WBA belt for the fourth time with this victory and will next look to claim and unify more trinkets as he eyes WBO titlist Juan Manuel Lopez, both of whom have been attending each other’s fights in an anticipated collision of young champions. JuanMA was in attendance tonight and if I were Lopez this fight could only make me more confident and wanting a fight with Yuriorkis even more, as he showed some holes in his game. Lopez is scheduled to face aging superstar Rafael Marquez on Nov. 6th in Las Vegas.

After the fight Gamboa stated that he was very happy with his performance and when commentator Max Kellerman asked him his thoughts on a fight with Juan Manuel Lopez, Gamboa stated, “This fight has been talked about for a while and Bob Arum has been trying to get this together but unfortunately it hasn’t been done, but definitely it will happen with Bob Arum, whenever he decides it will be done.”

Bob Arum was quoted as saying, “of course, if they both keep winning, that’s the match that everyone is going to want to see.”

When Gamboa fights on the outside with lateral movement picking apart his opponents in a style that is very effective but no so crowd pleasing, he dominates. When he decides to open up and let his hands fly, which is why the fans like him, he leaves himself vulnerable because he drops his hands when doing this and it has left him open for five knockdowns in his career which he got up from to claim victory, but that will only last for so long, eventually he’ll be in their with a devastating puncher who could take full advantage of those opportunities preventing Gamboa from another trip to the well.

All Photos by Top Rank Boxing/Chris Farina