Juan Manuel Lopez and Yuriorkis Gamboa

[kompressaur]

looks like these two are fighting folks this weekend. I dont keep up with the boxing but im sure that some of you will have an interest in the bouts. all thoughts appreciated.

Juan Manuel Lopez and Yuriorkis Gamboa, two of the most legitimate blue chip prospects in the sport, are on a collision course to meet in 2010 and both men get chances to make a statement this weekend when they feature in separate bouts on a cracking bill in New York.

Puerto Rican sensation Lopez makes his bow at featherweight and goes for the WBO world title currently held by the capable Steve Luevano, while Gamboa faces Rogers Mtagwa in WBA title action.

British fight fans will remember Luevano as the man who came to Blighty and stopped Nicky Cook back in 2007 to win the WBO belt. Since that night at the O2 he has won four and drawn one of five world title fights and beaten some good men in Terdsak Jandaeng, Billy Dib and Bernabe Concepcion.

Despite this he is a 7/2 outsider to beat Lopez, a fellow southpaw who has won all 27 of his pro bouts since turning over in 2005.

'JuanMa' looked all set to follow in the footsteps of Felix Trinidad and Miguel Cotto as the next Puerto Rican ring idol after a string of sizzling recent results but struggled horribly to outpoint Mtagwa (the man who will be in the opposite corner of Gamboa on Saturday) in his last fight, a performance that promoted his move up from 122 to 126 pounds.

At 26 Lopez has probably yet to reach his physical peak and it will be interesting to see how he handles the crafty Luevano, who has lost just once and never been stopped in 39 pro outings.

Luevano is a credible champion, a class act who to this point has not received the plaudits he perhaps deserves. The fight goes out live on HBO and he will see this as his chance to gatecrash the big time after being on the periphery for too long.

He is certainly not without hope in this one given his skills and the fact that his opponent is fighting at a new weight for the first time. That said I feel that Lopez is truly something special and will follow the likes of Cotto, Trinidad, Wilfred Benitez and Wilfredo Gomez in the Puerto Rican pantheon.

He is super fast and hits hard with both hands. This rare combination of speed and power make him a formidable foe and while Luevano has never been stopped he has been dropped and hurt several times as a pro.

Sportingbet go 13/5 that Lopez gets the job done in the first six rounds and that looks a cracking wager considering he has a KO ratio approaching 90%.

In the co-feature the hugely talented Gamboa takes on Tanzania's Mtagwa, a fighter who gave Lopez fits in his last bout before losing on points.

Mtagwa came on strongly in that bout and is much better than his 26-13-2 record suggests. 'The Tiger' is just 30 but has been a pro since 1997 and has been afforded few favours from promoters in that time.

He's fit and he comes to fight but the layers don't give him much chance in this one with Gamboa as short as 1/20 in places to record his seventeenth straight win.

Gamboa is a wildly exciting Cuban former amateur protege who won gold at the 2004 Olympics before eventually defecting to Miami and turning pro in a bid to find fame and fortune.

The 28-year-old only began his pro journey in 2007 but is already a WBA world champion and the plan is for him and Lopez to meet in a mega-money showdown later this year.

He could earn some valuable bragging rights by doing what Lopez couldn't and stopping Mtagwa and he certainly has the tools to win inside schedule.

Gamboa is another fighter who hits with real authority with both fists and his frightening speed and ability to throw shots from unorthodox angles make me regard him as something of a modern day Naseem Hamed.

Like Hamed he is also somewhat fragile around the whiskers and he has been down in three separate pro fights, though got up to win them all with something to spare.
His handlers will probably tell Gamboa to be a little less gung-ho in this one given they know Mtagwa is very durable and that their man has yet to complete the 12-round distance.

If he blazes a trail early on Mtagwa could drag him into deep waters late so I am expecting a more circumspect, thoughtful Gamboa this weekend.

I do expect him to win but I fancy Mtagwa, who has only ever been stopped twice (and not for more than four years) to hear the final bell so take Gamboa on points at a more-than-acceptable 3/1.

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