Yuriorkis Gamboa to sign deal with PBC

Yuriorkis Gamboa, once one of the brightest stars in boxing, is going to sign a multi-fight deal with Premier Boxing Champions, according to ESPN.

Now 37, Gamboa’s star has faded considerably, but even if he’s very unlikely to reach the heights of his past, he still has a little name value and could be valuable to PBC as an opponent for younger fighters.

Gamboa (29-2, 17 KO) won a featherweight title back in 2009, just a couple of years after turning pro, and was for a time considered one of the most electric offensive fighers in the sport, with fast hands, technique, and power.

But in early 2012, Gamboa balked at a deal to fight Brandon Rios at lightweight, and eventually wound up in a whole mess with his promoters at Top Rank. Eventually, he wound up in the middle of the infamous Floyd Mayweather-50 Cent beef over what was going to be TMT Promotions — eventually 50 Cent’s short-lived SMS Promotions — and his career has never really recovered, as years went by and Gamboa fought here and there, including a 2014 lightweight title fight loss to Terence Crawford.

Mostly, Gamboa has been relegated to boxing’s second or third tier since his move away from Top Rank. He also lost to Robinson Castellanos in 2017, a fight where Gamboa looked old and simply overpowered.

Right now, Gamboa is working on a three-fight win streak, with majority decisions over Alexis Reyes and Jason Sosa in 2017 (the latter, at the least, was controversial), and a Nov. 2018 win over Miguel Beltran Jr in Miami, which was meant to set up a long-overdue showdown with Juan Manuel Lopez, who is also years past his prime.

Signing with PBC would give Gamboa a legitimate chance again — either a chance to get his career back on track at a late age, or at least a chance to fight regularly.