Britain’s Ricky Hatton to make boxing comeback

Britain’s Ricky Hatton will come out of retirement for “one more fight” this year against a big name opponent at a venue and date still to be decided.The former welterweight and light-welterweight world champion has not fought since he was knocked out in the second round by Filipino great Manny Pacquiao in May last year.

“I have decided to make a comeback and have another fight this year, probably around about the summertime,” the 31-year-old Manchester ‘Hitman’ told his personal website.

“There is no opponent that has been confirmed yet and no date confirmed yet but the point is that I have made my mind up that I am going to have one more fight.”

Asked whether it would really be just one more fight, Hatton recognised it might not end there.

“Maybe two more fights but it all depends on the performance of the first fight,” he said. “It’s always hard coming back from defeat.

“I think it would be very foolish of me to say ‘two more fights, three more fights.’ You can see I have set the wheels in motion for retirement… I am not going to have too many more fights.

“At the minute I am definitely just going to have one more.”

Hatton – who has won 45 of his 47 fights – shrugged off concerns about his health and said he had enjoyed a good break after the Pacquaio defeat with time to reflect and put that blow to the back of his mind.

He sets off to Australia next week for a holiday with his girlfriend but said he would get back into training as soon as he returned because “weight wise I have a little bit more to carry than I normally do”.

Speculation has hinted Hatton will return at light-welterweight.

“I think after the (Floyd) Mayweather defeat (in 2007) I jumped straight into action straight away and I didn’t really perform my best,” said Hatton.

“This time I’ve had a good rest, recharged my batteries and had a really good think.”

Asked about possible opponents, Hatton mentioned Colombia’s IBF light-welterweight champion Juan Urango, although he has already fought and beaten him.

He said last month that retired American ‘golden boy’ Oscar de la Hoya or Mexican Juan Manuel Marquez would be top of his hit list.

“It’s got to be a top-10 ranked pound-for-pound fighter or a world champion of some sort,” he said.

“I could not have one more fight where people look at me and go ‘Well, he just had this fight just to knock someone over and end his career on top.

“If I am going to end my career, I want to end my career at the top.”
Reuters

Carl Froch want to defend belt in home city

World champion boxer Carl Froch says he will defend his WBC super-middleweight belt in his home city of Nottingham.

t was thought the 31-year-old would return to America after beating Jermain Taylor in Connecticut in April.

But Froch told BBC Radio Nottingham: “It looks like it’s going to be in Nottingham which is a positive thing.

“It’s going to be early to mid-October so I’ve got plenty of time to shift a few pounds that I’ve put on after celebrating the last win.”

However, Froch does admit that it is difficult to find financial backing from television companies in Britain at the moment.

He said: “ITV are struggling and Setanta have just pulled out of boxing so it’s hard times for most sports, especially boxing. But we’re positive we can get these fights shown in Britain.”

Source: Carl Froch want to defend belt in home city

Despite flaws, Margarito deserves reinstatement

Antonio Margarito isn’t taking the most ethical route to try to get back into the boxing business. Then again, what would you expect from a guy who tried to fight one of the most significant bouts of his career with a plaster-like substance furtively tucked into his hand wraps?

Thanks largely to the diligence of trainer Naazim Richardson, Margarito was caught with an illegal knuckle pad in his hand wraps minutes before he was to fight Shane Mosley on Jan. 24, 2009, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

Margarito’s boxing license was suspended by the California State Athletic Commission on Feb. 10. His trainer, Javier Capetillo, was given the same punishment. Other states recognized California’s suspension and thus Margarito’s ban effectively became national.

More than a year has passed and now Margarito plans to fight again. He has a tentative fight slated for March 13 in Arlington, Texas, against Carson Jones on the undercard of the Manny Pacquiao-Joshua Clottey fight at Cowboys Stadium. Margarito is going to bypass California, which originally penalized him, and plead for his license in Texas.

Unethical as it may be, it’s all legal according to the rules of the Association of Boxing Commissions.

I will never buy another ticket to a card Margarito is fighting on again. I will never spend a cent on a pay-per-view broadcast that includes Margarito.

What he did was despicable, heinous and potentially criminal. Worse, he’s never expressed a smidgen of remorse. He has steadfastly remained silent, though he denied vehemently knowing anything about the illegal knuckle pad.

That, of course, is preposterous. He knew. He had to have known. Professional athletes at his caliber are very persnickety about their equipment and can recognize minute differences. I will never forget watching a minor league hockey player insist to a representative from a stick company that one of the new sticks in a batch he was given was three grams heavier than the others.

The representative insisted they were all the same. The sticks were placed on a scale and one was three grams heavier than the others.

The knuckle pad that the commission seized would have added weight to his wraps and he without question would have been able to tell the difference. It also had a substance that appeared to be dried blood on it, suggesting it had been used before.

Margarito threw Capetillo under the bus and laid all of the blame on a trainer he had claimed to love like a father.

He never once apologized to Mosley or to the boxing community. He was willing to do anything to be able to continue to fight.

The repercussions of Margarito’s actions were immense. Promoter Bob Arum vehemently sided with Margarito, which nearly cost Arum a close 10-year relationship with Miguel Cotto. Six months before the Mosley fight, Margarito brutally battered Cotto and handed him his first defeat in a fight in Las Vegas.

After the illegal pad was discovered prior to the fight with Mosley, Cotto began to suspect that Margarito had the same inserts in his gloves when they fought at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

Boxers die every year from head trauma despite the fact their opponents’ gloves and hand wraps are legal. It’s a dangerous business. It’s worse when someone actually inserts a rock-like substance into his hand wraps and turns a boxing glove into a club.

You’d have to be naïve to believe Margarito and Capetillo had never tried the trick before. His knockout ratio would tell you that.

Nearly every boxer sees his knockout ratio dip significantly when he begins fighting world-class competition. Prior to his first world title bout, Mike Tyson had a knockout ratio of 92.6 percent. He was 27-0 with 25 knockouts prior to challenging Trevor Berbick for the heavyweight belt in 1986. Including the Berbick fight, Tyson fought 31 times since, going 23-6 with two no contests and 19 knockouts, a knockout ratio of 61.3 percent.

There is no sane person alive who would suggest that Margarito is a better puncher at welterweight than Tyson was at heavyweight. Yet Margarito’s knockout percent improved as he began fighting world-class opposition while Tyson’s dropped more than 30 points.

Margarito was 25-3 with 17 knockouts before his first title shot, a 60.7 knockout percentage. From the time since he fought his first championship bout until the Mosley fight, he went 12-3 with a no-contest and 10 knockouts. Shockingly, perhaps, his knockout ratio improved to 62.5 percent as he began fighting significantly better competition.

It’s strange, unless you suspect he may have had a little extra help.

Margarito’s sleaziness aside, though, none of it matters. Prior to the Mosley fight, there were zero complaints about his hand wraps. I’ll believe for the rest of my life, no matter what he says, that he had the plaster-like substance in his wraps when he fought Cotto.

Yet, no one, not even Cotto, made a peep about his wraps after that fight. Nor did they say anything after any of his 42 fights prior to the bout with Cotto.

And it’s important to note that, unlike Luis Resto against Billy Collins in 1983, Margarito did not wear the illegal knuckle pad into the ring against Mosley. Eric Drath’s brilliant documentary, “Assault in the Ring,” chronicled the story of how trainer Panama Lewis removed the padding from Resto’s gloves prior to his fight with Collins at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Though Resto served a prison term for the incident, he spent 25 years denying what Lewis had done until he confessed to Drath in the documentary.

There have been many comparisons drawn between the Resto-Lewis-Collins incident and the Margarito-Capetillo-Mosley one. Yet there is one significant difference: Margarito fought Mosley with legal wraps and gloves.

And so, as revolting as it will be to see him back in the ring, it’s clear the man deserves his license again.

He served his punishment. He did not, as Arum threatened he would, fight in Mexico while under the California suspension. He did the crime and he served the time.

Margarito is now trained by the classy former world champion Roberto Garcia. There’s never been a taint of controversy surrounding Garcia, who is an honest, ethical man. Garcia will play by the rules.

Margarito, of course, will be subject to extreme scrutiny unlike any other boxer. His hand wrappings will become an event. More people will now watch tape and gauze being placed on his hands than watched many of his early fights.

He should also have his wraps inspected in the ring by a commission representative following every one of his bouts from this point forward, just to be extra careful.

It will be nauseating to watch him, but there is no justification for denying him his license. He served the penalty California assessed. The rules allow him to apply for a license wherever he chooses. He is not required to return to California, now or ever. A boxing license is a privilege, and no one has the right to one, but Margarito fulfills all requirements for one and should be given it when he applies in Texas.

If he were a real man, an ethical man, he would have applied in California and apologized to Mosley, his promoter, the commission, HBO and anyone else who was negatively affected by the incident.

No one said, however, one has to be a nice guy or a classy guy or an ethical guy to be a boxer.

Margarito is none of those, but he is a someone who can fulfill the Texas requirements for a boxing license.

As a result, as sickening as it is, he should be licensed when he applies.

Ratings Update: Lopez, Gamboa cause featherweight shakeup

Juan Manuel Lopez (right) cracks Steven Luevano with a powerful right hook en route to stopping the respected featherweight titleholder in the seventh round of their fight in New York City on Saturday. Lopez’s impressive victory vaulted the popular junior featherweight from THE RING’s 122-pound ratings and into the magazine’s featherweight rankings. Photo / Naoki Fukuda

Bob Arum’s doubleheader featuring Juan Manuel Lopez and Yuriorkis Gamboa caused the shakeup in the featherweight hierarchy that most expected it would.

Junior featherweight beltholder Lopez (28-0, 25 knockouts) stopped respected featherweight vet Steven Luevano in seven rounds to claim a 126-pound title in the main event of Saturday’s Boxing After Dark broadcast. Gamboa (17-0, 15 KOs) blasted the normally rugged Rogers Mtagwa in two rounds to solidify his claim as the featherweight division’s most dynamic fighter in the co-featured bout at Madison Square Garden’s WaMu Theater in New York City.

Lopez crashed THE RING’s featherweight ratings with his methodical destruction of Luevano (37-2-1, 15 KOs), a crafty southpaw who was unbeaten in his previous nine fights — which included six title bouts — and had never been knocked out.

Gamboa was already among the magazine’s Top 10 featherweights but the former Cuban amateur star’s explosive annihilation of Mtagwa raised his standing in the 126-pound rankings.

Arum, who promotes Lopez and co-promotes Gamboa, envisions an eventual high-profile showdown between the two punishing featherweights but only after they clean out the 126-pound division.

After Saturday’s HBO-televised fights, the veteran promoter told the ringside press that Chris John (THE RING’s No. 1-rated featherweight), Celestino Caballero (THE RING’s No. 1-rated junior featherweight who is also No. 8 in the magazine’s Pound-for-Pound rankings), Elio Rojas (No. 9), and the winner of the Feb. 13 featherweight match between Mario Santiago (No. 6) and Bernabe Concepcion were all potential opponents for both Lopez and Gamboa before they face each other.

If Arum is serious about his plans, fans can expect the featherweight division to heat up into one of the sport’s premiere weight classes.

So where do Lopez and Gamboa rank among THE RING’s Top-10 featherweights after Saturday‘s performances? Check out the magazine’s Ratings Update and find out:

FEATHERWEIGHTS:

Lopez moves up from junior featherweight and debuts at No. 2 following his TKO of Luevano, who fell from No. 2 to No. 5. Rocky Juarez (No. 5 last week) tumbles to No. 10. Gamboa (No. 10 last week) advances to No. 7 on the strength of his stoppage of Mtagwa. The shakeup also causes Martin Honorio to slip from No. 7 to No. 8, while Ryol Li Lee (No. 8 last week) exits.

“Due to the realignment prompted by Juan Manuel Lopez’s victory over Steven Luevano, we took a close look at every rated featherweight’s record,” said Nigel Collins, Editor-in-Chief of THE RING magazine. “This examination resulted in Juarez’s significant demotion. Although he fought to a draw with top-rated Chris John in early 2009, he lost the rematch by a wide margin and has not beaten a featherweight since May 2007.”

JUNIOR FEATHERWEIGHTS:

With Lopez (No. 2 last week) now campaigning as a featherweight, there was also movement at 122 pounds. All fighters rated below Lopez last week move up one spot each, while Satoshi Hosono, who lost a close fight to second-ranked Poonsawat Kratingaenggym in his most recent bout, is new at No. 10.

JUNIOR FLYWEIGHTS:

Carlos Tamara’s upset stoppage of Brian Viloria (No. 1 last week) allows Tamara to debut at No. 3, while Viloria falls to No. 5. Giovana Segura (No. 2 last week) moves to No 1 and Rodel Mayol (No. 3 last week) advances to No. 2. Everybody rated No. 5 or below last week drops one spot each, while Milan Melindo (No. 10 last week) exits.

Weekend Review: Big nights for Gamboa, Lopez, Tamara

Yuriorkis Gamboa (right) had Rogers Mtagwa reeling throughout their short fight on Saturday night. Photo / Emily Harney-FightWireImages

BIGGEST WINNER

Yuriorkis Gamboa: I don’t want to anoint Gamboa the next great fighter after his two-round demolition of Rogers Mtagwa on Saturday in New York City, particularly after writing that we make snap judgments too often. That said, WOW! Gamboa looked like a complete package at least on one night, showing the speed, power and poise of a true star. His punches were accurate and extremely punishing, the result being three knockdowns. Yes, Mtagwa’s aggressive style was made for a puncher like Gamboa. Still, the Tanzanian is a very rugged fighter who had given Juan Manuel Lopez hell in his previous fight. Gamboa’s performance was simply spectacular.

BIGGEST WINNER II

Juan Manuel Lopez: Lopez didn’t dazzle the crowd or television audience quite the way Gamboa did but also turned in a very impressive performance. The Puerto Rican star dominated a slick, experienced southpaw even though he was moving up in weight, which is saying a lot. Lopez patiently and methodically broke down the Californian and then took him out with two devastating rights in the seventh round, an emphatic end to a great night. Just like that, Lopez regained any ground he might’ve lost in his narrow victory over Mtagwa in October and set up a fascinating matchup with Gamboa – if and when it happens.

MOST FRUSTRATING

Lopez vs. Gamboa: Promoter Bob Arum urged those of us who would like to see Lopez and Gamboa fight immediately to do something unnatural and possibly illegal to ourselves. He said those people can, “Go (expletive) themselves.” I understand that Arum wants his two young featherweights to build their reputations, which would make for an even bigger showdown later on. However, what he’s saying is that he wants safer fights for Lopez and Gamboa. Is that what boxing needs? Safer fights? I love the idea of two young, immensely talented, undefeated fighters facing one another while they’re hot rather than hoping they’ll get hotter. Maybe it’s just me. By the way, after Gamboa’s performance on Saturday, I don’t see him losing to Lopez.

MOST DISAPPOINTING

Rogers Mtagwa: Everything that Mtagwa built in his sensational performance against Lopez came crashing down against Gamboa on Saturday. He was outclassed, overmatched and overwhelmed against a far superior fighter. Mtagwa shouldn’t be written off but that was a giant step backward. Perhaps his poor performance lends credence to the notion that Lopez was weakened because he had difficulty making 122 pounds, meaning maybe Mtagwa wasn’t as good as he looked that night. Also, Mtagwa weighed only 122½ for the 126-pound fight. He’ll probably go back down to junior featherweight and try to rebuild.

MOST DETERMINED

Carlos Tamara: The thing that struck me about the Tamara-Brian Viloria fight on Saturday in the Philippines was how fierce and fresh the New Jersey-based Colombian was in the final round of a taxing fight, the round in which he stopped Viloria and took his junior flyweight title. To me, Tamara looked like an incredibly determined fighter who was thinking: “I’m just not leaving this ring without that belt.” Those who have followed Tamara knew going in that he was no pushover. He’s experienced – having fought once before for a major title – and tough. Now everyone knows how formidable he is.

MOST CRUSHING

Brian Viloria losing: Viloria was told by Sugar Ray Leonard after he first won a major title that holding onto the belt will be much harder than winning it. The former U.S. Olympian had another harsh reminder of that Saturday in the Philippines. Viloria worked very hard to regain his status as an elite fighter after struggling in 2006 and 2007 and succeeded, stopping Ulises Solis to regain a title. Now this. Viloria rebuilt once before; he can do it again if he wants to. The good news is that he’s apparently OK. He collapsed in his dressing room after the fight and was rushed to a hospital, where doctors reportedly determined he suffered no permanent damage.

MOST-DISTURBING SILENCE

Mayweather-Mosley negotiations: Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Shane Mosley’s representatives have been in talks for about a week and there’s no sign of a pending announcement. A report several days ago indicated that negotiations were going well. A more-recent report, on Examiner.com, cited a source close to Mayweather saying the fighter might be balking because he would make much less money fighting Mosley than he would’ve made fighting Pacquiao, whom Mayweather apparently deems the more beatable of the two. I hope that source is wrong. If he’s not, Mayweather will have the distinction of spoiling two huge events in a span of about a month. He might never live that down.

MOST DISTURBING NEWS

Erik Morales coming out of retirement: The former Mexican star was a great fighter, probably a first-ballot hall of famer. I miss his fire and unusual ability. However, the man has lost his last four fights and five of six, including two knockouts by Pacquiao. I was never more certain that a fighter should retire after his final fight, a decision against tough, but limited David Diaz in August of 2007. Now, ESPN.com reported, he will face Jose Alfaro in a welterweight bout on March 27 in Mexico and plans to fight beyond that. I support his right to fight if he meets the medical requirements but I don’t like it, which is the case whenever a badly faded star refuses to face reality.

TOUGHEST MANDATORY

Amir Khan fighting Marcos Maidana: I believe Khan is the most-talented 140-pounder in the world but I still wonder about his chin, which dramatically came into question when he was knocked out by Breidess Prescott in 2008. So who does the Briton get to defend his title against on April 17? One of the biggest punchers around, Marcos Maidana, who pounded the spirit out of another hot young prospect in Victor Ortiz last year. The Argentine has 26 KOs in his 27 victories. Khan probably will win because of his superior boxing ability but the odds say he’s going to get tagged once or twice. It will be fascinating to see what happens. This fight isn’t set in stone. Khan is trying to get an exemption from the WBA to fight Juan Manuel Marquez first.

MOST UNSETTLING

Antonio Margarito possibly regaining a license: The Mexican slugger has the right to reapply for a boxing license after the minimum one-year suspension he was given in California for having loaded wraps. Arum, his promoter, is confident Texas will license Margarito to fight on the Manny Pacquiao-Joshua Clottey undercard on March 13 in Dallas. I also understand that Arum doesn’t want Margarito to re-apply in California, where the promoter doesn’t feel his client was treated fairly. If Margarito didn’t know trainer Javier Capetillo inserted the illegal pads in his wraps, as he claims, then I think a one-year suspension is sufficient. If he did know, then the punishment doesn’t fit the crime. And I, as well as most fighters I talked to, believe he had to know. Arum reportedly wants Pacquiao to fight Margarito this year.

BEST QUOTE

Arum, on a potential Lopez-Gamboa showdown: “I want to hear you guys ask me that question [about when they’ll fight] over and over and over. Because then I know they’re taking care of their business and we’re doing our jobs. They’re terrific young fighters and terrific kids, but this fight is going to be huge one day. If I just threw them in there now, yeah, you’d love it and it would be a great fight, but it wouldn’t do the kind of business it’s going to do a while from now. Believe me when I tell you, down the road a fight between these two guys is going to be huge. You watch.”

Fans will have to wait for Lopez-Gamboa

NEW YORK – For the next six months, perhaps a year, boxing promoter Bob Arum is going to be like the kid who dangles a toy on a string just out of a cat’s reach.

Mere seconds after Juan Manuel Lopez had knocked out Steven Luevano in a featherweight title match in The Theater at Madison Square Garden, Arum was inundated with pleas to make a match between Lopez and the other winner on Saturday’s card, Yuriorkis Gamboa.

Gamboa was electrifying while retaining his World Boxing Association featherweight title with a second-round stoppage of Rogers Mtagwa, setting the idea firmly in everyone’s mind that a Lopez-Gamboa fight had to be next.

Not so fast, said Arum, who relishes the idea of letting it percolate while building the fighters’ profiles. It’s an intriguing fight now, but a year from now, when both have appeared on HBO a few more times and their visibility expands beyond their hardcore bases, a match between them could be the modern-day equivalent of the 1981 classic between Sugar Ray Leonard and Thomas Hearns.

For years fans clamored for that fight, as Leonard and Hearns roared through the welterweight division. But Arum, at the urging of Leonard manager Mike Trainer, waited until the demand was so great that even non-boxing fans were calling for the fight.

“Mike Trainer was a genius,” Arum said. “He made Ray a lot of money. And I owe these kids the same thing.”

Gamboa (17-0, 15 knockouts), the 2004 gold medalist from Cuba, opened the HBO broadcast with a stunningly efficient performance. From his earliest days as a professional, Gamboa was a world-class offensive fighter. He combines speed, power and combination punching like few others.

But it was frequently easier to miss the ocean from the side of a cruise ship than it was to miss Gamboa’s chin, which has never been the most sturdy.

On Saturday, though, it was a professional, controlled Gamboa who made the hard-nosed Mtagwa look like a beginner.

He was electrifyingly fast and brutally powerful in a typically brilliant offensive effort, but he gave Mtagwa little to hit in a rare defensive gem. According to CompuBox statistics, Mtagwa managed to land just 10 of the 57 punches he threw before referee Steve Smoger stopped the bout at 2:35 of the second round.

“I’ve started to fix the flaws in my defensive game,” said Gamboa, who sold his gold medal so he could have enough money to throw a birthday party for his infant daughter. “I’ve been working on it and I think I’m improving. Basically, I came here to demonstrate my skills. My message is simple: I’m here to fight the best featherweights.”

The division is teeming with talent and there are a lot of quality fights that can be made. A Lopez-Gamboa match would have the kind of star quality that would make it an unforgettable show, but fans are going to have to settle for the appetizers while Arum builds interest.

“There are a ton of great featherweights, so if I let these guys go in there and clean out the whole lot of them, that just makes them a lot bigger than if I threw them in there together now,” Arum said.

Lopez had a tough task following Gamboa, as well as facing a quality champion who came into the bout with a 37-1-1 record. Luevano, though, turned out to not be much of a match for Lopez, who had struggled and was nearly knocked out by Mtagwa in his last outing in the same ring just three months ago.

But Lopez wasn’t concerned and believed he was just drained by struggling to make the super bantamweight limit of 122 pounds for the October fight. After that bout, he announced he’d give up his World Boxing Organization super bantamweight title in order to pursue Luevano’s WBO featherweight belt.

He raked Luevano with right hooks and uppercuts as well as straight left hands. He wasn’t as dynamic as Gamboa, but when he had the chance to finish, he showed why he’s considered one of the game’s rising young stars.

Lopez (28-0, 25 KOs) hit Luevano with a right uppercut in the center of the ring that badly hurt the reigning champion. Luevano, who was bleeding from his mouth and nose and whose left eye was nearly swollen shut, staggered back into a neutral corner.

Lopez pounced and fired several shots, putting Luevano down. Luevano pulled himself off the campus, but he wobbled around in his corner and referee Benji Esteves wisely halted the bout at 2:16 of the seventh round.

Lopez insisted he wasn’t trying to live up to Gamboa’s effort – he was getting prepared for his bout and didn’t know what had happened in the Gamboa-Mtagwa bout – but he managed to put on a show that had the sellout crowd of 5,142 delirious.

“I knew I was as good a boxer as he is and I knew I would be stronger,” Lopez said of Luevano. “You have to be smart and be patient, and I did that.”

And now the public is going to have to be patient, because Arum knows the value of waiting. He’ll dangle Lopez and Gamboa in front of the public a few more times – he said they might fight on a split-site doubleheader in the spring or early summer – and said there is at least a chance they won’t fight at all this year.

“If I have to wait until 2011, that’s what I’ll do,” Arum said. “I don’t want to make this fight too early, because then that’s taking money out of these kids’ pockets.”

With as much talent as there is in the featherweight division and the skills that Lopez and Gamboa possess, Arum began mentioning them in the same breath as pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao.

As the public gets to see them more and comes to appreciate their fan-friendly styles, they’ll grow increasingly popular.

“I want to hear you guys ask me that question [about when they’ll fight] over and over and over,” Arum said, grinning. “Because then I know they’re taking care of their business and we’re doing our jobs. They’re terrific young fighters and terrific kids, but this fight is going to be huge one day. If I just threw them in there now, yeah, you’d love it and it would be a great fight, but it wouldn’t do the kind of business it’s going to do a while from now.

“Believe me when I tell you, down the road a fight between these two guys is going to be huge. You watch.”

Who is the best Cuban fighter?

Yuriorkis Gamboa is back in the spotlight.

The dynamic featherweight from Cuba takes on rugged slugger Rogers Mtagwa in the co-feature to Saturday’s Boxing After Dark doubleheader from the WaMu Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

The Mtagwa fight will be Gamboa’s third appearance on HBO.

Gamboa (16-0, 14 knockouts) scored a 10-round decision over fringe contender Darling Jimenez and a second-round knockout of undefeated Marcos Ramirez in his first two appearances on the network. The explosive speed and power the 2004 Olympic gold medalist displayed against Jimenez and Ramirez illustrated why so many are excited about him, but the flashy featherweight also exhibited his flaws, poor defensive technique and a sometimes reckless attitude, when he was dropped in both bouts.

Gamboa has settled down a bit and tightened up his technique since those two HBO appearances, which took place in 2008. The 28-year-old boxer-puncher has also continued to raise his profile in the sport by winning an “interim” title belt, signing a co-promotional deal with Top Rank, and by displaying his considerable talent in bouts that were televised on ESPN2, Showtime and one of Top Rank’s small “Latin Fury” pay-per-view shows.

However, Gamboa isn’t the only Cuban amateur star who has emerged as a pro to watch. Last year two of Gamoba’s former amateur teammates, Erislandy Lara and Guillermo Rigondeaux, garnered accolades from the boxing community.

Lara (9-0, 5 KOs), a slick-boxing southpaw, fought seven times in 2009. The 26-year-old junior middleweight is so seasoned that his promoter, Golden Boy Promotions, will pit him against experienced fringe contender Grady Brewer, winner of season two of The Contender and a veteran of 37 pro bouts, on a Fox Sports Net-televised card on January 29.

At the advanced age of 28, Rigondeaux (4-0, 3 KOs), a two-time Olympic and world amateur champ, turned pro in the junior featherweight division last year to much ballyhoo and instantly began living up to his amateur hype with impressive performances. The counter-punching southpaw, now 29, is so ring savvy that his trainer, Freddie Roach, believes he can beat former 122-pound champs Israel Vazquez and Rafael Marquez right now.

Gamboa, who turned pro in 2007, has a head start on his compatriots and is already considered to be a contender by many boxing scribes and publications, including THE RING, which ranks him No. 10 among featherweights.

However, does that mean Gamboa is the best of the recent defects from Cuba? Many believe that the more defensive-minded Lara and Guillermo are better technical boxers than Gamboa and some would argue that they have more upside than their often impetuous former teammate.

RingTV.com asked three boxing insiders who they think is the best of the talented Cuban trio and why.

Teddy Atlas:

“Obviously, Gamboa is the most experienced in the pros but he’s flawed in some ways, technically. He’s a little undisciplined with his hand placement and his defense, but he’s got terrific talent and terrific confidence. The way Gamboa is with his talent, it’s like giving a race car to an 18-year-old kid. Sometimes they get carried away and they run red lights. That’s how Gamboa is in the ring. Sometimes he gets carried away with his ability and sometimes he gets caught because of that, but his power and his amateur experience is evident. His charisma is evident even though he doesn’t speak English. He’s very special.

“And even though he’s been caught and dropped before he’s always gotten up and behaved like a fighter. He always get up from knockdowns and takes care of business.

“Lara is a little bit better technically than Gamboa and not as reckless. He’s closer to the vest with his talent, but he’s a kid who understands his identity. He knows what he is and he stays within his ability in the ring. He’s a boxer who controls the distance. He keeps you in a place where he can use his southpaw jab and where he can do what he wants when he wants to do it. He stays on familiar, safe ground. I like his demeanor. He’s very calm, very patient. He doesn’t over do it like Gamboa.

“Lara’s talent is not as explosive as Gamboa’s, but I like him.

“I did Rigondeaux’s fights in the Olympics in 2000 and 2004. I saw him when he was 18 in Sydney and I saw something that looked very special. He had that ring presence that very few amateurs have. He had the talent, the skill set and ability we see in Gamoba now, but his approach is different than Gamboa’s. Everything he did was contained. There was a deliberateness about him.

“He might have had the Porsche but he wasn’t running red lights. I think his driving lessons were a little better than Gamboa’s. Rather than chase you to get you, he would let you chase him and take advantage of your mistakes. He’d turn your aggression into something productive for him. You don’t see that in the amateurs very often because you only have many rounds to work with but he still found a way to inject his style into that limited time frame. Most fighters feel an urgency to go out and lead more but he found a way to make (his opponents) do what he wanted them to do.

“He stayed that way in the pros. He’s a terrific counter puncher and a great body puncher. He’s got all the talent that Gamboa has but he’s more much more contained. When you see his talent, when he does strike in the ring, it’s every bit as explosive as Gamboa. He’s not as flamboyant as Gamboa but his talent is every bit as electric when he’s ready to show it.

“If I have to chose between Gamboa, Lara and Rigondeaux, I’ll have to go with Rigondeaux because he’s got the talent but also the discipline. With Gamboa, one day he’ll run a red light and there will be a truck there waiting for him. That won’t happen with Rigondeaux. He’ll never run the red light because of his temperament, his technique and his discipline.”

Atlas is a veteran trainer, who is currently working with heavyweight contender Alexander Povetkin. He’s also the broadcast analyst for ESPN2’s weekly ‘Friday Night Fights’ boxing series, where he’s called the action of Gamboa, Lara, and Rigondeaux.

Cliff Rold:

“It’s hard for me to divorce who the best is from who has the most upside. If we’re talking about one of them going into the hall of fame 10 years from now I think it’s going to be Lara.

“I like his fundamentals. I like his size. I like that he’s steady. You don’t see him getting hit with crazy shots. You don’t see him miss much. You see a fighter who allows his fights to develop naturally. There’s an organic flow to his fights. He’s not trying to force anything. You can also see that he’s being moved steadily by his handlers. I like that.

“With Rigondeaux, they’ve got to move fast because of his age. With Gamboa, I think they want to move him fast while there aren’t any killers in the featherweight and junior lightweight divisions. But I think Lara’s handlers can take a little more time with him because he’s the youngest of the bunch and I think that will help him develop into a world-class junior middleweight or middleweight.

“Lara doesn’t jump off the screen at you like Gamboa or Rigondeaux. He doesn’t “wow.” He doesn’t have that “wowing” thing that you see with Gamboa and Rigondeaux, but he’s got that base.

“He reminds me of Michael Spinks and Evander Holyfield in the 1976 and 1984 Olympics. They didn’t jump off the screen the way some of their teammates did, like a Ray Leonard or a Meldrick Taylor, but eventually, in the pros, they proved they were just as great.

“Lara can move his hands more. That’s a criticism I’ve heard about him and I agree with it. People say he relies too much on his jab and his one-two, but that’s something he can work on. Other punches can be added to his arsenal because his foundation is so set. I think he’s going to be around the longest of the three and the junior middleweight and middleweight divisions are ripe for the taking. It’s very likely that he will be around for another eight or nine years.

“I like Gamboa. He’s the most eye catching of the three. In many ways, he reminds me of Meldrick Taylor. He’s dynamic but he’s a flawed fighter and I think someone is going to knock the s__t out of him. He’s been down three or four times already with mediocre fighters. It’s only a matter of time before someone keeps him down. I don’t care how talented you are, you can’t fight with your hands down around your d__k.

“Rigondeaux is the total package. If he had gotten here (turned pro) earlier he would be my pick (as the best), but he’s 29 and maybe older than that. He looks like a grown-ass man who’s had to chase kids out of his garage already. Still, he will probably win a title at 122 pounds before the year is out. He’s that advanced.”

Rold, a senor writer for Boxingscene.com, is a member of THE RING’s Ratings Advisory Panel and the Boxing Writers Association of America.

Joe Goossen:

“Out of the three I’m most impressed with Gamboa. I saw him a lot early on in his career when he was going for broke and sometimes getting dropped, and it almost reminded me of a (Felix) Trinidad kind of thing. He got knocked down but he always got up and then look out! He was going to take someone’s head off.

“What I really like about Gamboa is his instincts for the game. You got a lot of guys who go by the numbers and box a textbook fight, and he has that ability because of his amateur background. He can do fundamental things that you’re supposed to do, but on top of that he’s got that superior athleticism that reminds me of (Shane) Mosley.

“Sugar Shane can box but he can also do things other fighters can’t because of his athleticism. When you saw him fight (Antonio) Margarito, you saw the proper boxing technique, like lateral movement and setting everything up with his jab, but you also saw the smart athletic stuff that allowed him to explode at unpredictable angles. Gamboa has that same ability. That’s what makes him special.

“I’ve seen Lara fight once or twice and I think he is very good. He might be too young for us to really tell how far he can go, but I like what I see from him right now. He reminds me a little of Joel Casamayor. He picks you apart and then goes for the kill, only I don’t think Lara’s killer instinct is as strong as Joel’s was.

“Lara’s a little too defensive minded for my taste, a little too cautious, but he’s definitely got a future.

“Rigondeaux, I’ve seen once or twice, and I was fairly impressed, but not overly impressed. I don’t doubt the guy’s skills but when you spend that much time in the amateurs, I don’t know, you kind of carry that mindset into the pros. He’s got good power but he uses it sparingly. He’s happy to merely outpoint his opponent and he’s a little bit too deliberate for my taste.

“I’m not saying Lara and Rigondeaux don’t have great potential. They do. Those Cuban southpaws are a real pain. They’re hard to beat. I don’t know if they convert them in the amateur system over there or if there’s just a lot of lefties on the island but I know from training Joel Casamayor that they are very cagey.

“Gamboa breaks the mold and I like that because he’s so exciting. He comes to fight. He’s got the speed, the power, the courage and the athleticism. When he lets his hands go he lets them go hard. Every punch he throws has hurt on it and he can deliver them from any angle.

“Some say that’s his weakness. He went too hard in some fights and left himself open for left hooks. So, hey, welcome to the pros and the world of fighting tough Mexicans and Dominicans. That’s how a young fighter learns. I don’t know if it was his attitude that caused the knockdowns so much as it was his hand placement, but I think he’s working on his fundamentals.

“He’s young. He’s talented. He’s improving and he’s exciting. That’s why I think I think he’s got a great future.”