Yuriorkis Gamboa defeats Orlando Salido coming close to disqualification

[VNewz...]

By Vanessa McConnell

Last weekend’s “Battle of the Champions” was a night to remember. The struggle to hold on to an undefeated streak nearly cost Yuriorkis Gamboa (19-0, 16KOs) more than just his bragging rights. He defeated Orlando Salido (34-11-2, 22Kos) in the 12^th round by TKO but nearly lost the match by disqualification. He continued punching Salido even after knocking him down and nearly out the ring with a hail of punches to the body, head. It was a quick debate after the referee stepped in. Gamboa jammed him up so quick we had to view the tapes to see what actually happened. As Salido nearly fell through the ropes and on to the mat, Gamboa continued to swing even after the referee stopped the fight.

Some suggested that Salido protest the decision and demand a disqualification. This fight was full of controversy from the 3^rd round to the knockout. The referee literally had to pull Salido out of Gamboa’s wrath as the bell rang ending the 3^rd and at the end of the 7^th there was a heated exchange of blows between both fighters. Salido threw the first punch and this is what made the last call seem not so bad. The referee allowed a lot of low blows all night and was even reassured ringside by his colleagues after the fight that he did a good job. Gamboa started out solid and focused and began to hurt a little in the 6^th but by the 11^th round Gamboa cut Salido over his left eye and the fight was turned up another notch.

Gamboa was warned in the first round about hitting in the back of the head but Salido spend most of the fight resting on his shoulder. Gamboa kept tapping him on top of the head during the fight, having fun with him. Gamboa fell in the 8^th round but it looked more like he lost his balance and this seem to wake Salido up. There was a nice exchange of blows during the round until the middle of the 9^th when both fighters went down with Salido almost landing on top of Gamboa. By the 10^th round both fighters were out of gas and Salido was getting sloppy and went down for a count and the fight went downhill fast going into the 11^th.

In the HBO Live World Lightweight Eliminator bout between Brandon Rios (25-0-1, 18KOs) and Anthony Peterson (30-1, 20KOs) was an even more upset with Peterson losing by disqualification for excessive low blows. Both fighters stepped into the ring with their entire camp and families. Rios had an entire section in the arena rooting him on as well but Peterson was obviously the crowd’s favorite. Overall it was a good fight; Rios landed so many upper cuts we were wishing they had a count and percentage tally on upper cuts.

Peterson came out strong and confident but after the second round you could predict the rest of the fight was not going to be in his favor. Peterson was getting brutalized and his punches were barely fazing Rios. Rios stood alert and strong and working him over with jabs and uppercuts. Rios started losing wind around the 4^th and Peterson went MMA on him wrapping his arms around his leg and nearly picking him up before the ref stepped in. At that point he was no longer the crowd’s top pick; they booed him continuously from that point on.

In the 6^th both fighters exchanged some low blows that the referee never warned or called. Rios went down on one knee and even stopped fighting after shots to his groin area. Twice during the round the ref called a time out and docked Peterson for points because of his constant low blows. By the 7^th round the disqualification came as Peterson hit Rios in the back of the head. The ref was mostly blamed for letting the low blows go on so long with both fighters. The respect level for Peterson was completely gone after that fight because during the interview the microphone was cut off as he spoke to the announcer, it was a technical difficulty. It’s hard suffering your first loss. Peterson is a good fighter but he can’t win all his fights, even the best have lost and continued in success.

In the Middleweight undercard bout between Anthony Greenidge (14-5-1, 5KOs) and Matt Korobov (12-0, 8KOs), Korobov won by unanimous decision. Greenidge suffered a cut over his right eyebrow in the 1^st round and never recovered. If this fight had gone one more round it would have been a knockout. In the Lightweight fight against Manuel Del Cid 4-3, 1KO) and Jose Benavidez Jr. (8-0, 8KOs), Benavidez won by TKO in the 2^nd round after ref Kenny Bayless stopped the fight and rescued Cid from a brutal offense.

In the Light Heavyweight bout between Alex Rivera (2-3, 2KOs) and Mike Lee 2-0, 1KO), Lee won by TKO at the end of the 2^nd round after delivering a killer dose of body shots. In the Super Featherweight bout between Carlos Oliveira 25-2, 19KOs) and Diego Magdaleno (16-0, 3KOs), Magdaleno won by TKO in 1:13 of the 3^rd round after Diego beat him like a pot of mashed potatoes. Carlos was like butter before the ref had to stop the massacre.

Top Rank put on a good fight card with action in every round at the Peal Concert Theatre inside the Palms Hotel Casino. The only distractions were all the laptops up front surfing the internet, listening to music and small talk. It makes sense now why these agencies are not media friendly anymore because most don’t value their credentials or respect for other around them. Things have changed in the boxing world for the worst but it will pick up.

There was a huge controversy that MMA may replace the sport but that’s only a myth. Boxing is in a category by itself. MMA does a lot more creative marketing and promoting and allow the fighters to make direct contact with fans before and after fights. That makes a huge difference when it comes to fans because they are consumers that buy tickets, merchandise and watch pay per view. Most complained that this was a bad match up and bad venue but I beg to differ. 4 out of 6 of the fights ended in knockouts and all the fights were worth the ticket. Vegas is still and always will be the boxing capital of the world.