HBO’s opening fight from The Theater at Madison Square Garden went more or less as expected, at least until the scorecards were read. In the end, Yuriorkis Gamboa got a win that he was not necessarily supposed to get over recent Vasyl Lomachenko challenger Jason Sosa. It was also maybe a win that he didn’t entirely deserve either. Gamboa did do better a little better in the fight than I had anticipated, however.
Yuriorkis Gamboa (28-2, 19 KOs) started the fight quite well with a good first half. He clearly won the first and had a good case in the second on body work, though Jason Sosa (20-3-4, 15 KOs) landed well upstairs at the end of the second as well. It was nice to see the Cuban star in with someone down close to the junior lightweight limit, meaning he wasn’t fighting at a size disadvantage. A couple of years ago this decision could have significantly delayed the downward trajectory that he ended up on fighting as an undersized lightweight.
Three through five were more of the same, but with the contest tilting even more in the Cuban’s favor on nice left hooks to the body and good right hands upstairs. I had Gamboa up four rounds to one, but with with several of the rounds being close.
Yet, time gets us all. At 35, Gamboa began to fade in the sixth. Jason Sosa stayed consistent and basically fought the same fight all the way through. This meant that he became more effective as Gamboa became sloppier. Disaster struck at the start of the seventh when a Sosa right hand landed as Gamboa was all too typically off balance, resulting in a glove touching the canvas and a knockdown being scored. This brought the New Jersey based fighter even more to life and he began to accumulate damage.
Yuriorkis restabilized in the eighth, but Sosa still fought well and it was a close round. The ninth was a clear Sosa round, however, as the Cuban was increasingly exhausted and he was forced to increasingly hold. After being warned repeatedly throughout the fight and given a final warning for holding in the ninth, the nail was seemingly driven into Gamboa’s coffin with a last minute point deduction. It seemed a bit much that late in the contest, but he was warned repeatedly and legitimately.
I scored the bout 96-92 and HBO’s Harold Lederman scored it 97-92, both for Sosa. The official scores, however, came back a majority decision for the Yuriorkis Gamboa by scores of 95-93, 96-92, and 94-94. I didn’t see it, necessarily, but in a fight with so many close rounds I guess coming out with scores in that direction isn’t extremely absurd. It is a hard one to get worked up about at the very least.
