Yuriorkis Gamboa, Juan Manuel Lopez ready for spotlight

By Dave Skretta, AP Sports Writer

Thursday, Aug. 27, 2009 | 8 p.m.

NEW YORK — Yuriorkis Gamboa looks straight ahead when he speaks, clearly articulating his thoughts, often breaking into an embarrassed smile when someone offers him praise.

He’s been smiling a lot lately.

The 2004 Olympic gold medalist has been on a meteoric rise since defecting from Cuba with national teammates Odlanier Solis and Yan Barthelemy in 2007, when they walked out of their Venezuelan hotel during training for the Pan American Games.

The trio crossed into Colombia and hid out, and eventually signed with Germany-based Arena-Box Promotions. One of the top amateurs in the world, Gamboa wasted little time in making his mark as a professional, winning his first 15 fights—13 of them by knockout—and capturing the interim WBA featherweight title in less than two years.

Now he’s being positioned for a megafight next year with junior featherweight champion Juan Manuel Lopez, a Puerto Rican knockout artist also on the rise. The two will share top billing in separate title defenses on Oct. 10 at Madison Square Garden.

“I think it’s the biggest step in my career to be able to showcase my talent in the Garden, in front of so many people,” Gamboa said through a translator. “The way I see it is me taking another opportunity to showcase my talents on a bigger stage.”

Considering what Gamboa has been through, he doesn’t have much reason to be nervous.

Gamboa’s father is an accomplished former amateur who used to train with Joel Casamayor, one of the many champions to blaze a path for all Cuban defectors. Gamboa’s mother, two sisters and a brother still live in Cuba, and although he speaks to them four or five times a week, he said the toughest part of his career has been the separation.

Still, Gamboa said it’s a worthwhile sacrifice. He had to sell his Olympic gold medal just to pay for his daughter’s first birthday party in Cuba, which gives him pause when he reflects on the seven-figure promotional contract he now enjoys.

His daughter Brenda and wife Dunia live with him in Miami and, of course, he has several former national teammates to help ease the transition to American life.

“That obviously helps, and it also feels good to be at the forefront, to be the first one to be world champion,” he said. “They look at me for advice.”

Gamboa will fight Whyber Garcia (22-6, 15 KOs) in the co-feature of Top Rank’s “Latin Fury” card, with the expectation that he will be lined up against Lopez next year. The two champions even took photos facing each other during a news conference Thursday, as if they were already preparing to climb into the ring.

Lopez (26-0, 24 KOs) will fight veteran Rogers Mtagwa (26-12-2, 18 KOs) in the main event of a pay-per-view that includes Solis (14-0) against heavyweight Kevin Johnson (22-0-1), and former U.S. Olympian Vanes Martirosyan (25-0) against Carlos Nascimento (24-1).

Exciting brawler John Duddy and rising middleweight Matt Korobov are also on the card.

“There’s a lot of great fighters out there and a lot of people the networks overlooked for one reason or another,” Top Rank boss Bob Arum said. “But we felt they’re the best fighters in the business, and this card demonstrates that.”

Lopez is certainly one of the up-and-coming stars.

Following in a long line of Puerto Rican champions that includes his idol Felix Trinidad and welterweight Miguel Cotto, Lopez has embarked on a path of devastation ever since getting a title shot last year at Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall.

Before the fans even had a chance to find their seats, Lopez knocked out Daniel Ponce De Leon to claim his belt—and promptly followed it up with first-round knockouts in his first two defenses. He’s coming off a pair of impressive ninth-round stoppages of Gerry Penalosa and Olivier Lontchi, and hasn’t had a fight go the distance since 2006.

“Sometimes I don’t even know how fast I’m moving,” Lopez said, “but I’m enjoying it. A lot’s happened in the last year.”

With plenty more expected to come. Besides the anticipated fight with Gamboa, Lopez said he’d also like to fight Celestino Caballero, who is scheduled to defend the IBF version of his title against Francisco Leal on Saturday night in Mexicali, Mexico.

“I think moving up is what we’re going to do, go for more world championships,” Lopez said. “Do this one at 122 and one more—if we could do a Caballero fight, that would be great. Next year I’m sure I’ll be at 126 pounds.”