Juanma-Luevano/Gamboa-Mtagwa Weigh in

Well yeah, I guess this fight is going to be his litmus test, and we'll see just what he's capable of.

But you know regarding Gamboa getting floored, I know I've seen him get dropped before, but the reason I said if Gamboa "really" is chinny, is because when I've seen him decked, it's been flash knockdowns, so it remains to be seen if he really does have a bad chin.

I haven't seen him properly hurt, put it that way, and some fighters - despite getting knocked down often - have quick recovery and overall decent chins. Trinidad for example, he got knocked down all the time, but he generally got up fairly clear headed.

Gamboa might be like that, or indeed his chin might be crap, like Khan ;)

 

Why is that? I'll Holla 5000

 

Because Arum is greedy. Fuck I hate that guy.

 

I was about to say, I doubt Arum makes that anytime in 2010, not in his interests, and if anything, both their performances last night made that even less of a likelihood in the next 12 months than it was before

 

Öner has signed a short-term TV deal in Germany. He needs to impress the TV executives to get a long-term deal, so Gamboa´s next fight is scheduled to be the main supporting bout to Kretschmann/Bahktov II on March 27th.

Btw Öner is an awesome promoter. He found a huge German TV channel to pay for that Kretschmann/Bahktov rematch after he had to pay "little" Eurosport to show the first fight. ::

 

I'd have to favor Gamboa as well, especially considering his improvements in patience. He fought offensively brilliant but not in a reckless way. Lopez is still very live though. He can crack and it's no sure thing that Gamboa has permanently improved his defensive shortcomings. He's been floored by lesser punchers (and fighters) than Lopez before.

 

:doh:

Why am I not surprised? Damn! I really want to see this fight.

Bob Arum strikes again.

I'd pick Gamboa to win by mid-round TKO--say round 6 or so.. (Lopez seems very hittable and I'm sure Gamboa would be more than happy to oblige). I do think it would be entertaining while it lasted though.

 

smoger reffed the first fight

 

Agreed! My thought exactly last night was that Gamboa is by far more polished fighter then Juanma. I favor Gamboa to stop Juanma within 8 rounds. I dont think he can deal with Gamboa's speed. I have been mentioning for a while now that Juanma gets very sloppy with his punches and I see Gamboa countering the shit out of him and making him pay!

 

Manny Pacquiao's boss is Bob Arum. Floyd Mayweather has no boss, his boss is himself.

Floyd can come back and make $200,000,000. Why? Because Floyd wants to come back and steal some money.

 

Don't knock my hussle!

 

I am surprised that so many of you are so hot on Gamboa. Clearly, he has extreme talent. He also is very arrogant. He drops his hands and keeps his chin right in the zone. I would never bet on a guy like that.

 

Getting dropped doesn't necessarily make you "chinny", I agree with that. Sometimes when you know you are about to be nailed, you completely pull out and let the balance shot drop you. I haven't seen Gamboa hurt yet. All the drop shot have been due to arrogance. He could be chinny though.

 

Maybe your right. When you think about it, Gamboa has not been a pro for too long. So maybe he's still developing his game there and getting stronger.

I just think that the fact that he has been knocked down(And they were legitimate knockdowns though I agree he wasn't hurt) is something to keep in mind should he ever get in the ring with a sharp puncher who has good technique like Lopez. I wonder what happens if Lopez is able to put him down.

 

MY THOUGHTS ON THE FIGHT

Gamboa - Like most I was very impressed with his improvement. I thought he showed great countering ability and loved that he rarely drops his hands so much when he's in punching range. What really impressed me was his defense. Nobody here mentioned it but Mtagwa barely touched him. It wasn't just the many punches he slipped either, he also blocked alot with his arms and gloves like a kung fu master at times. I think that could be a big difference in a JuanMa fight because Juanma gets hit a lot.

JuanMa - I was never a big Juan fan. His stamina is crap and he gets hit way too much. Like some mentioned he needs a jab. His style kind of reminds me of Trinidad's and I think if he had a bit of Tito's patience and a jab he could be much better. I can't get too excited over him stopping a guy who admitted his main concerns were relaxing & playing video games with his kids. Luevano had no hunger so I knew he wasn't going to win. JuanMa may be championship caliber but he's got the kind of style that's going to make every fight hard on him and it reeks of a short career.

Matchup - On paper it seems Gamboa easily but I just have a feeling JuanMa would lose on the narrowest of decisions in a tough fight where Gamboa barely survives. My official predicition (for now) though would be with my head. Gamboa TKO 8 in dominant fashion.


Lennox Lewis - Somebody said LL sucked. I actually thought he appeared improved last night. His body language was horrible, but his comments were pretty good. I especially liked his & Max's little discussion on Luevano's tactics. I actually wondered if LL has been taking commentary lessons.


HBO's Spanish Translator - Don't know who this guy is but he was fucking awesome. Made the translations to the fighter at the same time Max was speaking so we didn't have to wait to hear the same questions asked in Spanish. He also gave JuanMa's defensive answer about Gamboa in the type of defensive tone that JuanMa might have given himself if he spoke English. ::

 

Could be that. Or could be he just learned English. He's been taking it for 4 or 5 years and he still sucks at it. Throw a thick accent on top and I think it was just about normal of what you should expect.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong but weren't you the guy arguing so strongly against boxers fighting through beatings and tough fights?

Anyway I think the first fight was stopped just about right. I thought maybe sooner at first but seeing as how Mtagwa is a guy who gets better late, I felt it was a good idea to give him that last chance and see if he could keep going. He couldn't so that stoppage was just about right IMO.

Luevano got up on shaky legs and was blinking his eyes which are some of the tell tell signs a ref looks for when he decides to stop a fight. He was the champ but it wasn't like he was winning anyway or making a ralley. Good stoppage IMO.

 

::::He speaks fluent English. I would love to hear you speak Spanish.

 

His English isn't fluent at all. Admittedly it's a hell of a lot better than my Spanish, but that was not fluent English. It's commendable for you to try to give him props and he's come a long way, but let's not go overboard. I've met females in Texas who spoke better English after six months of classes.

 

Is Cotto's English better than Pacquiao's?

 

Cotto has a sexy voice.

 

How many languages do you speak Whitey? It isn't easy.

 

Actually I was arguing about fighters quitting. I never said anything about the referee/corner/doctor/commissioner stopping the fight. You might want to go back and re-read my thread. And 30g actually agreed with me as well. I'll Holla 5000

 

IMO. No.

 

I never said it was. Just because he learned a new language doesn't automatically make him fluent in it. He's pretty good and can get by with his English. I acknowledge his English is 3 times better than my Spanish. That's not the point though. The fact is he isn't fluent, I'm not knocking him, learning new languages is hard for some people, me included.

You're taking this language thing to those same levels some guys take criticising boxers. Where they say shit like, "you're dissing such and such fighter, but have you ever been in the ring?"

 

Nah, I wasn't being a smartass, and I think it may have read that way. It was a serious question. I was pretty sure it was you, but didn't feel like looking for the thread so just wanted to hear your piece on it.

 

Well, have you been in the ring, keyboard warrior. ::::Look, I deal with non-English speakers all day. Fluency is a subjective term. If I were to meet Cotto, I would give him my condolences for his loss and he would understand. I think that is a complex idea. When he speaks, a native English speaker could easily understand him. He might be heavily accented, but he is fluent enough. A non-complex idea is a person pointing to their injured back and saying my back hurt is not conveying a complex idea. There are different levels of language fluency.

 

Oh my bad. I thought when you used a word you actually went with its intended meaning as opposed to your own. ::

 

The meaning of the word is subject to the perception of the judge. Is it graceful and effortless, not really. HE IS ABLE TO express complex ideas and in reasonably grammatical ways. Manny Pac cannot speak English at all. He frequently misunderstands basic questions and often answers questions he wasn't asked. Cotto can speak with relative easiness and you or I could have a conversation with him. Pacman's English sucks. Cotto is communicative. Maybe Fluent was the wrong word to use but Cotto's English is intermediate at absolute worst and I disagree with your uncharitable assessment. 5 years ago, the guy couldn't say more than Yes.

 

I don't recall Pacquiao ever misunderstanding basic questions or answering them wrong. Pacquiao has been speaking English longer and he seems to do it more effortlessly than Cotto did IMO. Cotto's accent is also thicker. The bolden part of your post alone is enough to say Cotto isn't fluent. When I hear the word fluent it pretty much means the guy speaks the language nearly perfect and doesn't have to pause and search for smaller words which thereby force him to completely change his sentence which is what happened with Cotto. I'm pretty sure Pacquiao speaks better English than Cotto when he can go on tv and sing songs in English. If Cotto tried that shit his fucking teeth would spill onto the floor.