Sharkie’s Machine: Martinez, Angulo and Gamboa Star in Two Mismatches and a Quick Stoppage


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Sharkie’s Machine: Martinez, Angulo and Gamboa Star in Two Mismatches and a Quick Stoppage

By Frank Gonzalez Jr., exclusive to Doghouse Boxing (Oct 5, 2008) Photo © German Villasenor

Saturday night from the Pechanga Casino Resort in Temecula California , HBO gave us a fight card that featured three hot prospects, two predictable match ups and one suspect ending. The most competitive fight on the card was a virtual shutout that ended in a TKO in the final round.

Alfredo Angulo and Yuriorkis Gamboa are exciting prospects that can fight at a level that threatens many of the top guys in their respective divisions. The jury is still out on Sergio Martinez, who hasn’t done

much in his career outside of beating a battle worn Alex Bunema.

First up was a WBC interim title match between Jr. Middleweights, Sergio Martinez (44-1-1, 24 KO’s) ranked # 2 by the WBC against # 4 ranked Alex Bunema (30-6-2, 16 KO’s). I wish we could scrap all the bogus Sanctioning Bodies. The WBC is about as dubious as Sanctioning bodies get, considering their #1 ranked Jr. Middleweight contender is a man who has lost three of his last six and hasn’t faced a legitimate 154 pound fighter since 2006 and is currently scheduled to fight a Lightweight titlist in December. Yes, it’s the Golden Boy, Oscar De La Hoya. Money may not buy you love but it sure seems to help with securing a top spot in the rankings.

Sergio Martinez turned out to be too fast, too cocky and too strong for Bunema, who was introduced to the canvas in the third round after a big Martinez left put him down. Bunema’s corner gave him the kind of scant advice that suggested Alex was not there to win—and his corner knew it. I was a bit surprised at how easily Martinez manhandled Bunema, considering that Bunema KO’d Walter Matthyesse in six rounds a couple of months ago and scored a TKO 10 Win over Roman Karmazin back in January.

A look at Martinez ’ record suggests that he’s not ready for prime time, as most of his opponents had lousy records. Outside of a TKO 7 loss to Antonio Margarito way back in early 2000, Bunema is only other ‘name brand’ fighter Martinez has faced in 46 professional fights. It’s surprising that Martinez is only now starting to press forward towards winning a “major” title.

Martinez dominated this fight with crisp punching and a display of self assuredness that must have froze Alex Bunema, who opted to fight defensively and abandon any attempts at offense. Martinez made Bunema look like a sparring partner, careful not to throw too many punches. After a while, Bunema’s corner started to give him more urgent advice, imploring him to throw his right hand more often. Bunema threw maybe two rights in the following round. Bunema showed no urgency and let Martinez run away with the fight as he rarely threw any punches. To his credit, Bunema demonstrated the ability to take a beating without quitting. This fight was about as competitive as a leopard against a house cat. The fight lasted for eight of the scheduled ten rounds, when after being beaten to the punch and battered in every round; Bunema’s corner waved the white towel in surrender.

The next fight featured another pair of Jr. Middleweights in Alfredo Angulo (14-0, 11 KO’s) against the very credible, Andrey Tsurkan (26-4, 17 KO’s). Unlike the previous fight, it was clear that Tsurkan came to win. It was Tsurkan’s plan to take Angulo into the deep waters of the late rounds and see how good he is in a fight going the distance. Before this fight, Angulo has never fought past six rounds. Angulo showed a good chin and high quality boxing skills on both defense and offense against a tough, motivated opponent.

Tsurkan gave a good account of himself, fighting every second of every round. He landed many punches and took a lot of shots without cracking. Though Tsurkan lost every round, he gave everything he had for the duration of the fight. That Tsurkan was so motivated to win made this a quality victory for Angulo, who once again showed himself to be a much better fighter than his mere 12 pro fight record would suggest.

I look forward to seeing Angulo take on the top guys in his division. He’s as good as any of them, if not better. Angulo fights with a calm demeanor and a maturity that defies his limited record. Angulo hits hard because he knows how to throw straight punches, a quality that escapes many top fighters. His stamina is good enough to go a solid ten rounds and from what I’ve seen so far, Angulo looks good enough to beat most of the top dogs in his division. I can’t wait to see him fight again.

Like so many fight cards, this one would have been more entertaining if the principles were switched around. Tsurkan should have fought Bunema and Angulo should have fought Martinez .

On paper the Gamboa vs. Ramirez fight looked like a bold match up for Gamboa and from what I saw in the first round, it was. Gamboa showed big heart after being knocked down in the first round by a combination of a Ramirez left hook, an elbow and a follow up right. Gamboa rallied with a barrage of punches, many of which were blocked by Ramirez, who landed a big left hook before the bell to win a 10-8 round.

In the second round, Gamboa evened things up with a flurry of uppercuts, one that put Ramirez down. Ramirez got up quickly but was downed just as quickly from another quickly delivered uppercut that seemed to come out of nowhere. Ramirez opted to take the bulk of the count on a knee. He was getting up as the ref got to nine but the ref accelerated the speed of his count to a fast ten and waved Ramirez out. After the referee Jerry Cantu, stopped the fight with that suspiciously speedy count, Ramirez didn’t say a peep.

Gamboa has fought five times in 2008 and we may even see him again before the year is done. That level of activity only makes fighters battle hardened and dangerous. With only 12 fights in his pro career, he’s already ranked in the top ten of his division, though he hasn’t even fought anyone in the top ten. Clearly HBO thinks Gamboa is ready for prime time and from what I’ve seen; he’s a very good offensive fighter that can probably hold his own against anyone in his division. Gamboa’s defense is a bit suspect but when his chin was tested, he got up and got the job done (with a little help from the referee’s quick count).

Gamboa has reasonable power, fast hands and a ferocious style of fighting. Since Gamboa is good enough to be top billing on HBO, I’d like to see him fight some of the top ten guys in and around his division, guys like Gamaliel Diaz (23-7-2, 10 KO’s), Elio Rojas (20-1, 13 KO’s), Jorge Linares (25-0, 16 KO’s) or Mario Santiago (19-1-1, 14 KO’s). If Gamboa can beat any of those guys, he is surely ready to fight the titlists in his division, like aging Oscar Larios (WBC), Chris John (WBA) or Steven Luevano (WBO).

Another bold move for Gamboa would be to fight the winner of the Orlando Salido vs. Cristobal Cruz fight, for the soon to be determined IBF title. Since Gamboa came into the ring weighing 137 for a contracted 126 pound fight, he might even consider moving up to Super Featherweight, which is about as deep as Featherweight in terms of quality fighters.

Comments, Questions, can be emailed to dshark87@hotmail.com.