On the eve of the big Canelo versus Chavez Jr PPV, Golden Boy on ESPN returns with a Friday night card featuring Gamboa (26-1, 17 KOs) in a quick turnaround fight against against Robinson Castellanos (23-12, 13 KOs). The co-feature pits unbeaten (officially, anyway) featherweight prospect Abraham Lopez (22-0-1, 15 KOs) against Jesus M Rojas (24-1-2, 17 KOs).
Former feather titlist Yuriorkis Gamboa was once supposed to be one of the next big stars in boxing. Years of poor promotional decision making, PED implications, and inconsistent activity, he now campaigns above his optimal weight at lightweight where he took his only loss in a 2014 ninth round stoppage defeat to pound for pound elite Terrence Crawford. He also only fought three times since then. His most recent outting was in March in a very dull, uneventful fight on the HBO televised co-feature to David Lemiuex’s execution of Curtis Stevens. This represents a notable increase in activity level for the Cuban contender.
His opponent, Robinson Castellanos, has a very deceiving record. After starting his career 10-10, he has gone 13-2 against a solid level of competition. This streak includes wins over former contenders Celestino Caballero, Rocky Juarez, and unbeaten prospect Ronny Rios. He is probably the best 23-13 fighter in the business.
Co-featured Abraham Lopez is a Golden Boy featherweight prospect who they have regularly featured on their Estrella TV series against a slowly increasing level of competition. His biggest fight, however, came on HBO on the Francisco Vargas/Orlando Salido undercard in June of last year against unbeaten Julian Ramirez where it is widely believed he received a gift decision. Jesus Rojas probably represents a level of competition a hair below Ramirez, but also a bit above the opponents Lopez has been fighting on Estrella TV.
I must admit, early in the series Golden Boy on ESPN is doing better work in putting together better than I anticipated they would. This is another decent card with two interesting fights.
