Yuriorkis Gamboa to fill-in against Jason Sosa on Kovalev-Shabranskyy undercard

Former Cuban dynamo Yuriorkis Gamboa (27-2, 17 KOs) has just been added to the Nov. 25 HBO card headlined by Sergey Kovalev vs. Vyacheslav Shabranskyy. On this card Gamboa will be filling-in for Robinson Castellanos in a bout against Jason Sosa, with Castellanos withdrawing from the fight because of injury. The fight has been scheduled as a 10-round junior lightweight bout.

Gamboa, 35, was once thought to be one of the very best talents in the entire sport just a few short years ago, but after moving up in weight to face Terence Crawford back in 2014 his career has unraveling rather quickly — and it hasn’t all been due to in-the-ring issues. Nevertheless, Gamboa says he’s excited for the opportunity.

"I'm excited for this great opportunity to fight Sosa on the undercard of Kovalev-Shabranakssy," said Gamboa. "A win over Sosa on HBO could push me back into title contention. I'm a fighter with many aspects and dimensions, and that's what I'll bring in my fight against Sosa.

“For my my last fight, I wasn't prepared well. This time I will be very much prepared, so I can walk away with my hand raised."

Gamboa is most recently coming off a majority decision win over Alexis Reyes in August following a stoppage loss to Castellanos, whom he’ll be replacing in this outing. Meanwhile Jason Sosa is coming off of a lopsided loss to Vasyl Lomachenko in April and looks to get back into title contention with a win here.

In all honesty, this really isn’t too bad a fight for a late substitute, even if Gamboa hasn’t lived up to his lofty expectations.