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FRIDAY - at Primm, Nevada (Showtime) - 12 rounds, vacant interim WBA featherweight title: Yuriorkis Gamboa (14-0, 12 KOs) vs. Jose Rojas (25-6-1, 17 KOs); 12 rounds, welterweights: Selcuk Aydin (17-0, 14 KOs) vs. Said Ouali (25-2, 17 KOs).
Tonight on Showbox, at 11 pm est, there will be the only televised boxing card for this weekend. But it is definitely worth watching.
The Nevada card includes an interesting co-feature, in which Selcuk Aydin makes his American debut. Aydin, from Turkey, fights primarily out of Germany. American fans know that the old concept of what defines "European boxers" no longer holds, and it is a shame that there is not more coverage of fight cards from Germany, as a number of the top boxers in the world are being produced there.
Although Aydin’s record looks impressive, in terms of being undefeated, and having a high KO percentage, a closer examination shows that he has been brought up on soft opposition. It is interesting that his nickname is "Mini-Tyson," as Iron Mike also fought a lot of soft opposition when he was developing his skills in the professional ranks.
He faces Said Ouali, who was born in Morocco, but now lives in Las Vegas. Ouali has also faced a number of weak opponents. But he has also faced guys who are at a much higher level, and has done well. He does have two loses, and they could be as important to look at, as his victories.
His first defeat came less than a year into his career, when he was matched in a battle of two unbeaten prospects, against Kermit Cintron. He was TKOed in the 5th round. No disgrace in losing to a very tough guy like Cintron (who is scheduled to participate in a card in late May, featuring four of the hardest punching welterweights!), but if Aydin is really a "mini-Tyson," there should be a similar outcome.
His second lose was to journeyman Manning Galloway (61-17-1). Ouali had been on a string of victories for three years after the Cintron lose, and had been put in with a crafty older fighter, with a deceiving record, to see what his skill level was. It is easy to look at 17 loses and ignore the 61 victories. Galloway won an 8 round decision. Since then, Ouali has gone on a 5 year winning streak.
The fight is scheduled for 12 rounds. Aydin has gone 12 one time, and Ouali has never gone beyond 10 rounds. One of the two will be moving up in one of the toughest divisions in the sport.
The main event features Yuri Gamboa fighting journeyman Jose Rojas for the a WBA "paper title." Rojas, 38, has been fighting professionally for 20 years. His early career took place primarily in his native Venezuela. Teddy Atlas frequently points out that it is common for fighters coming from South America to have impressive numbers on their records, because they fight soft opposition. As a prime example of that, Rojas has victories throughout his career over opponents who had zero victories going into the ring.
Rojas reached his prime around in 1997, and fought for a title against Antonio Cermeno, losing to the champion in 12 rounds. Two years later, he again fought for a title, and was KOed in 4 by Yober Ortega. His career lost its focus after that. However, there were two fights that deserve our attention.
In December of 2004, after Derrick Gainer refused to fight tough Chris John for the WBA title, Rojas entered the ring as a late replacement. John was 34-0 at the time. The fight ended as a technical draw in 4 rounds, due to a serious clash of heads. This is not an unusual thing in Rojas’ career: this guy uses his head, shoulders, and elbows as weapons during toe-to-toe exchanges. He faced John in a rematch 3 years later, and lost a 12 round decision. He only has one fight in the two years since then, a TKO over a 1-9-1 stiff.
Gamboa is, in my opinion, about 18 months away from being recognized as the pound-for-pound best in the sport. There are only three things standing in his way: a manager who may be rushing his career a bit faster than I would prefer; a well-earned reputation that has resulted in top boxers not wanting to fight him, hence the need to put Rojas in (much like his role against Chris John); and Gamboa’s tendency to showboat in the ring.
The featherweight division has some very talented fighters, but it lacks a solid second tier. Thus, Gamboa is unlikely to get a shot at any of the guys at the bottom of that top tier, because none of their managers are interested in risking their position against this kid. So, only the very top guys are likely to fight him. And their managers are going to want to fight him sooner, rather than later, because he still makes a couple of errors when he fights. Hence, he has been decked a couple of times in recent fights.
Rubin used to tell me that any time you are looking to kick another fighter’s ass in the ring, to be sure to remember you have your own, right there behind you. Gamboa has proven the value of this advice a couple of times recently, when he has gone on the attack, with his hands far too low. The result is his having to get off the canvas, not a good spot to be in.
Rojas will look to counter the much faster Gamboa when Yuri is attacking. And it is very likely that the older man will be using his head, shoulders, and elbows at these times, as much as his fists. Thus, it will be important for Gamboa to use his impressive foot speed, to come in at angles, and to keep the distance between him and Rojas at arm’s length. He will probably end the fight early – perhaps even in one or two rounds. But, as always, anything can happen inside that ring, and the longer the fight goes, the greater the chances that Rojas has of disrupting Gamboa’s tactics.
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