LAS VEGAS – The end was abrupt and unceremonious. Yuriorkis Gamboa quit on his stool after seven rounds. His comeback was over. Maybe, a once promising career was too.
Gamboa (26-2, 17 KOs), a former IBF and WBA featherweight champion, looked all of his 35 years, suffering knockdowns in the third and fourth rounds in a stunning loss to Mexican lightweight Robinson Castellanos (24-12,14 KOs) Friday night at the MGM Grand.
Gamboa, who recently signed with Golden Boy Promotions, flashed some familiar footwork and counter-punching power in the first two rounds. In the third, however, he dropped his hands and Castellanos capitalized in the round’s closing second, dropping the Cuban with a straight right hand.
During the first minute of the fourth, Castlellanos again dropped his hands and Castellano’s again took advantage of the moment, this time dropping him with long right.
Gamboa, a gold-medalist at the 2004 Athens Olympics, appeared to regain his composure and mobility late in the fifth and again in the sixth. After the seventh however, he went to his corner and seemed to almost collapse on his stool in exhaustion.
