Combat sports media personality Luke Thomas said on a recent episode of The Joe Rogan Experience that fighting is a sport in which “the elderly get eaten.” That appears to be the situation that 38-year-old Yuriorkis Gamboa is walking into.
Gamboa faces 21-year-old undefeated WBC lightweight champion Devin Haney (24-0-0,15 KOs) on November 7 and OddsUSA expects Haney to earn his next knockout. Why? Well, more than just Gamboa’s age.
Boxing is a sport so oversaturated with championship titles that the fact Gamboa is fighting for one this weekend is misleading. He is fresh off a stoppage loss to Gevonta Davis. “What’s the big deal? That fight was almost a year ago in December 2019” some of you might be saying.
Gamboa has been declining for the last seven years. As ProBoxing-Fans.com notes, he won his debut at lightweight in 2013 but gave up a year of his career to legal issues. When he fought again in 2014, Terrance Crawford stopped him in nine rounds after four knockdowns.
He earned 3 victories before being dropped twice and retiring (in the case of a single fight this means a fighter or their corner ending a fight between rounds for newer fans) in seventh against Robinson Castellanos.
Gamboa would win another three before facing Davis, during which Davis put him down three times before the stoppage, in part due to an achilles tear. Haney is the heavy favorite (-2400) and for good reason as this bout is meant to showcase or further develop Haney prior to facing Teofimo Lopez.
Haney Betting Prediction: Why Haney is Such a Heavy Favorite
Haney, who has a six-inch reach advantage over Gamboa plus a KO and two retirement winsin his last six bout has been respectful to Gamboa. This seems to be a tactic to make him appear more of a challenge than he is to increase the number of event buys.
“Yuriokis Gamboa is a dangerous and experienced fighter,” Haney said. “He’s a former unified world champion, and he has been in the ring with some of the best. He hurt Terence Crawford with a big shot, so his power is not to be ignored. He beat Orlando Salido who beat Vasiliy Lomachenko.
Less than a year ago he took Gervonta Davis into the 12th round, something no one has ever been able to do. Gamboa is a true warrior and I’m not taking him lightly…”
Place your prop bets on the number of knockdowns against Gamboa now! We at Odds USA expect this one to end in Round 7 or 8.
Prediction: Devin Haney def. Yuriorkis Gamboa by KO/TKO
