Juan Manuel Lopez Showdown with Yuriorkis Gamboa Looms
24/01/2010 17:27
The new WBO featherweight champion Juan Manuel Lopez is headed for a showdown with undefeated WBA featherweight title holder Yuriorkis Gamboa of Cuba within this year after both boxers defeated their respective opponents at Madison Square Garden Saturday
With Juan Manuel Lopez' victory over Steven Luevano, a possible showdown between him and Yuriorkis Gamboa of Cuba could take place within this year.
Juan Manuel Lopez snatched the WBO featherweight crown from defending champion Steven Luevano via seventh round TKO victory in a double main event cards at the Madison Square Garden in New York City Saturday.
“I want to be a world champion in four divisions, and this is the second one,” Lopez said after improving to 28-0 with his 25th knockout. “I’m very happy I gave the crowd a great fight.”
“He’s a great fighter and a great hitter,” Luevano said of Lopez. “I was blocking that particular punch (the right hook) the entire fight, but he got one in.” Top Rank Promotions owner Bob Arum is planning to arrange a fight between the two undefeated boxers within the year.
“One of these two guys is going to become the next Manny Pacquiao,” Top Rank promoter Bob Arum said of Lopez and Gamboa. Juan Manuel Lopez is a Puerto Rican professional boxer.
As an amateur, Lopez represented Puerto Rico at numerous international tournaments including the 2002 Central American and Caribbean Games, 2003 Pan American Games and the 2004 Summer Olympics. López's professional career began in 2005. As a professional he won his first nine fights by knockout before winning his first decision.
On September 30, 2006 he defeated Jose Alonso to win the WBO Latino super bantamweight Championship, a regional championship sanctioned by the World Boxing Organization.
On June 7, 2008, Lopez defeated Daniel Ponce de León by technical knockout to win the WBO super bantamweight championship. With his victory over Steven Luevano Saturday, Lopez improved his professional boxing record to 28 wins with 25 won via KO.
(original article appeared @ Digital Journal )