Photo by Ismael Gallardo/RBRBoxing
On Friday, May 5, Robinson Castellanos (24-12, 14 KOs) scored a seventh-round TKO victory against Yuriorkis Gamboa (26-2, 17 KOs) at the Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The scheduled 10-round Lightweight fight was the main event of the latest edition of Golden Boy on ESPN.
Gamboa, 35, is a native of Cuba who had his better days at Featherweight where he was former world titlist. However, seven years later and after a loss to Terence Crawford, Gamboa signed a promotional agreement with Golden Boy Promotions and made another run for a title.
Those plans came to a crashing halt tonight as Castellanos, a 35-year-old native of Mexico, dropped Gamboa two times en route to a seventh-round stoppage.
In the opening rounds, Gamboa looked very slow and was caught several times as he tried to unleash combinations on Castellanos, who, though despite being past his prime as well, still had better fundamentals than Gamboa.
This was an important reason Gamboa lost tonight: when his youth allowed him to use his talent, he could get away with a lack of good fundamentals. Now that he his older, his lack of fundamentals hurt him.
Indeed, it was because Castellanos punches were shorter and straighter that he was able to outland Gamboa, who never really learned to keep his hands up.
By Round 7, Gamboa was finished, and retired on his stool.
“I am super happy and excited to get such a big win,” said Castellanos.
“I won against a revered Olympian, and this win puts my career back on track after my last fight. This win is the opportunity that I needed, and it’s because of the incredible team around me,” said Castellanos.
“I felt super dizzy, and felt like I couldn’t go on,” said Gamboa.
“We trained hard,” said Gamboa.
We will see how such a devastating loss will affect his career.
Gamboa dropped in Round 4 and 5. He's making the same mistakes he always has, but he's noticeably slower tonight. #Boxing #GBPonESPN pic.twitter.com/Grl16euQE7
— RoundByRoundBoxing (@RBRBoxing) May 6, 2017
