Gamboa vs. de Leon Results: Gamboa Wins in Desultory Performance
by Matt Miller on Sep 11, 2011 12:32 AM EDT
in Boxing Results and Post-Fight Analysis
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Yuriorkis Gamboa defeated Daniel Ponce de Leon tonight in an uneventful fight that I doubt will do much to advance Gamboa's career--though it won't set him back either and will be easy enough to forget when it comes time to promote his next fight. Gamboa won via technical decision in the eighth round, and the scores were 70-63, 70-63, and 69-64. Bad Left Hook was a bit more generous to Ponce de Leon, scoring it 68-65 for Gamboa. Several of us in the live thread thought the doctor stopped it early based on a not-very-dangerous-looking cut in round eight.
Gamboa's skill advantage was evident all night, but he never really seemed committed to getting de Leon out of there. A couple rounds, he seemed so uncommitted that despite his advantages, I scored it for Ponce de Leon. Ponce de Leon was clearly outclassed, and perhaps it was his awkward southpaw style, but I have a hard time seeing how Gamboa fans will be too enthused about this win, despite the wide scores.
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Desultory seems to take it too far. But I’m probably alone in this, so…whatever. It wasn’t the fight we were hoping for: I’ll leave it at that.
When an English professor writes the post, you get SAT vocabulary.
Bad Left Hook - The SB Nation boxing blog
"Baseball is played on the field, not on a calculator."
hey now, I stand behind my "desultory." I think it's accurate.
Boxing writer: "Iran, what are you going to do when you retire?"
Iran Barkley: "Rob your house"
I don't think it's wrong either
I just don’t think most people know what it really means.
Bad Left Hook - The SB Nation boxing blog
"Baseball is played on the field, not on a calculator."
I have to admit that i got it mixed up with derisory and saw it as a criticism of Gamboa’s performance, when really it is a good description of the fact that Gamboa reportedly fought with no real plan or method.
I haven’t seen the fight yet though.
by Matt Mosley on Sep 11, 2011 12:43 PM EDT up reply actions
I guess what it comes down to is
Do we believe Gamboa when he says he wanted to see it go past the 4th?
As much as I’d love to, I don’t
It started off tight, sort of tenative. I thought it was just Gamboa feeling things out. Ended up being the description for the fight in its entirety. Dunno if he was worried about getting clocked or whatever, but it was obvious that if Gamboa asserted himself, De Leon wouldn’t be able to handle the onslaught. Gamboa is really that good. It’s a matter of killer instinct, for all his sauntering and arrogance, he doesn’t seem to possess much of it against fighters that possess any sort of danger. I wouldn’t call the fight desultory. I wish De Leon had a bit more hand speed, he’d be hell to deal with.
And yeah, what was with that stoppage? Blood was flowing from the cut but shit, we’ve seen guys go on with worse wounds and win the fight. Insulting the doctor seems unnecessary seeing as he was only concerned with De Leon’s help, but it leaves a bad taste.
by The Twillness on Sep 11, 2011 2:10 AM EDT up reply actions
I’ve mentioned this before, but I don’t see why there can’t be an amendment to the rules for head-clash cuts, similar to the rule for accidental low blows where a fighter is given up to 5 minutes to recover. How about giving the corner up to 5 minutes to get a cut under control, rather than forcing the ring doctor to make a quick decision?
TheBoxingBulletin.com
by A.F. on Sep 11, 2011 2:13 AM EDT reply actions 1 recs
This sounds to me like an idea worth exploring.
Boxing writer: "Iran, what are you going to do when you retire?"
Iran Barkley: "Rob your house"
Way too good an idea.
Hard enough getting on belt per division….let alone getting fifty plus commissions and sanctioning bodies to make an intelligent rule change like the Ionesco youve proposed.
"Silence is golden when you can't think of a good answer"
---- Muhammed Ali
It’s an interesting idea, but I’ll play devil’s advocate.
1. It’s not just about getting the bleeding under control. The doc has to assess the depth and location of the cut, and the potential nerve or muscle damage it can cause. So if the 5 minute rule is implemented, the doc is in the corner assessing the potential damage, while the cut man is trying to stop the bleeding. I can envision complete chaos in the corner during this time.
2. This 5 minutes can lead to more trouble than it’s worth; cornermen "stealing" a peek at the scorecards, a long rest for both fighters which may lead to an unfair advantage for one of the fighters, loss of flow in the fight, and a restless crowd (which you hear when a fighter takes a 5 minute break for a low blow…….people start getting antsy after 1 minute). Too many potential problems.
3. The doctor isn’t under time pressure; they don’t need to make a quick decision. They wipe the blood away, and assess the cut. They talk to the fighter,"can you see?", and the ref. They don’t need meddlesome and biased cornermen talking in their ear.
Again, it’s a thought provoking idea, but when commissions makes big changes to current rules (think about the NFL replay), there has to be good justification for this change. And I’ve NEVER heard an outcry for this change in boxing from fighters/promoters/ or management teams.
Good points, but I will counter your counter.
Point #1: This is already being done in the corner. Honestly, giving a ring doc 5 minutes would make a closer inspection much more thorough, and would allow a lot of them to breathe easier.
Point #2: There are already mid-term reports in some fights, thought not many. I don’t see how giving both fighters interim information on how they’re doing would be unacceptable. They both know, but they both have trained for a certain type of fight, both have backup plans (well, that’s a stretch), and they both get told between their corner’s opinion of how things are going.
Point #3: I think the ring docs are in fact under some pressure. They may be able to assess with equal competence a certain type of damage in 30 seconds or 30 minutes. But, there are all sorts of important medical considerations, from blood flow (not usually threatening in this area) to nerve damage, that the doc might be able to assess better, if he or she is not watching a 60-second clock tick down.
Who knows? Maybe it wouldn’t make a difference. Maybe more fights would be stopped. But, as a cross-over boxing-MMA fan, I know, as all of us here do, that boxing is terribly dangerous, and I’m on the side of caution.,
I do think it’s an interesting idea, and Andrew should forward his idea to a boxing commission. I would be curious to see their response (if any).
But I still think your potentially adding more chaos to an already chaotic sport. I remember back in the 80’s, boxing decided to post scores of the judges after each round. The whole point was to make judges accountable. Good idea in theory, but had flaws and was soon stopped ( I think it’s still done, but very rare).
I just don’t hear a huge outcry for this type of amendment. But I would be interested in a commissions response.
I dunno, I thought Gamboa was coming on and really starting to dominate those middle rounds, and the talent gap was becoming more and more obvious. Not a dazzling performance from Gamboa but a solid one against a tough and determined opponent.
When you’re Cuban and don’t speak English, you have little fan base. So Gamboa can’t afford too many nights like tonight…not if he wants big money fights
"Silence is golden when you can't think of a good answer"
---- Muhammed Ali
He’s got HBO and Top Rank firmly behind him. There’s a limit to how big his fights are going to get anyway, unless he becomes a Pacquiao-type phenomenon, which was never likely.
He’s also not as exciting as his reputation. I feel like this is the 50th time I’ve said this, but he has these nights where he’s just not that interesting to watch and coasts on his talent, which he has in spades.
Bad Left Hook
"To the town of Agua Fria rode a stranger one fine day..."
by Scott Christ on Sep 11, 2011 12:15 PM EDT up reply actions
I will say that I found this fight sort of explanatory of my “reservations” with Gamboa, and I’ll go further on “not as exciting as his reputation.” I don’t think this is damning. What I think is that when he’s in with good opponents, he shows them a lot of respect. This results in him coasting instead of trying to make fireworks, fighting tactically and winning rounds with his brain. He’s smart, and smart doesn’t always = exciting. Gamboa saw Ponce de Leon as a threat, and should have. He fought him smart and I thought in spurts showed his great skill advantage, and clearly won the fight.
Bad Left Hook
"To the town of Agua Fria rode a stranger one fine day..."
by Scott Christ on Sep 11, 2011 12:35 PM EDT up reply actions
It seemed to be that Gamboa just didn’t let his hands go enough to really impose his will on DeLeon because as good as DeLeon is, he is a flaw fighter who is slow as fuck.
I also happen to think that DeLeon doesn’t have the pop he used to have after he has tired to become more of a boxer than a slugger. What made DeLeon such a badass was his rare one punch knockout power at the lower weight classes, now he simply doesn’t have it… and that is what made him at least in my eyes… special compared to his peers.
"Boxing is dirty," said Casamayor. " The day I’m not ready to be a dirty fighter is the day I don’t fight anymore because it will mean that I have no heart for it anymore."
The one thing to pass along here is that De Leon agreed with the stoppage. Whether the location of the cut was that bad (possible) or he just didn’t see himself getting any closer to Gamboa (less possible), take that as you will.
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