By Paul Strauss: You can’t get much more descriptive than that, and that’s coming from someone who put up a pretty good seven rounds against P4P Manny Pacquiao. Jorge Solis says Gamboa hits harder than Pacman! The Gamboa show put on tonight included five knockdowns in four rounds. This little whirlwind was more than his nickname of the cyclone. He was closer to the speed of light……..a little neutrino!
Solis had the height advantage, but could not find a way to make use of it. Unbelievably Gamboa likes to fight from the outside, which isn’t exactly accurate because he is so explosive that yes he’s momentarily out of range, then bam he tags you. All you can do is wonder, “Where the hell did that come from?” You start looking suspiciously at the referee, because you can’t believe your opponent pulled off that kind of move!
Gamboa does it all too. He can slip and slide and then explode with counters.. Or, he can move fluidly on the outside, and then you feel the sudden impact, but you didn’t see a thing. All you heard was a distinct whistling sound, and you wonder what the hell just happened? You vaguely remember a blur of gloves, but it was more dream like than reality. You don’t believe the little guy could possibly have gotten to you that quickly. Then it happens again. Oh shit! You start to panic, and tell yourself that you’ve got to get away.
You hear yourself wheezing, and you gaze across the limited space between you and this electrically charged sub-atomic speedball, He’s lissom, moving and bending with ease. You focus your argus-eye carefully, looking for possible danger, and once again you don’t sense it. You calm yourself and try to quiet the excitement you’re feeling, but it’s too late. The shellacking continues and you have no idea how to stop it.
That was the plight of Jorge Solis tonight in HBO’s “Boxing After Dark” held at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J. His only respite was the first round when Gamboa warmed up a bit. Solis still got tagged a couple of times, but he might have even earned the uneventful round. Starting with the second round, it was a different story. The decisive defeat was about to begin. First, Gamboa caught him with a two punch combo for the first knockdown. Gamboa quickly changed things up and ripped off some vicious body shots. Referee David Fields felt they strayed a bit low, so he cautioned Gamboa. So, back to the head went Gamboa, throwing in a few quick ones to the back of Solis’ head as Solis bent down while attempting to escape. Jorge went down for a second time.
In the third round, Gamboa caught Solis with a very hard straight right hand shot to the chest. Moments later he demonstrated his incredible quickness by moving side-to-side, and then firing a lead right that grazed Solis’ chin, followed by a straight left that landed flush on the jaw. Down went Solis again. The whole sequence of moves happened so fast, you’d swear it was impossible for any fighter to do it, let alone with so much power. But, Gamboa is definitely not your ordinary fighter.
Solis beat the count, but you knew the end was quickly approaching. It was written all over Solis’ face. One of the amazing things about Gamboa is his athletic ability. He can miss a punch by a pretty wide margin, but still not lose his balance, which allows him to manage a follow up shot or three! Tonight Solis unfortunately could not afford to even gasp for a breath of air, because if he did he would be eating leather.
In the fourth round, Solis gamely tried to get off a few jabs, but the flash of light struck again. This time it came in the form of a standard one-two, but it was like a race car on nitrous oxide. It just not operating at the same speed as the other cars it’s passing. And, for Solis it was no laughing matter. He climbed to his feet, but Gamboa sniffed blood in the water, and jumped all over Solis with a twenty punch barrage of punches. Before he unleashed the shots, Gamboa did a rapid machine gun fire tap dance with his feet. It was like he was cranking things up with the energy first building in his shoes, and like lightning moving up to his gloves. Rat-ta-tat-tat he went all over Solis’ vulnerable body and head. Solis wilted to the canvas, and that was it. Officially, it was 1:31 of the fourth round.
In the post-fight interview, Max Kellerman asked Gamboa if he thought Top Rank would match him with JuanMa, and Gamboa expressed doubt it would be anytime soon. First of all, Juan Manuel Lopez has to get by Orlando Salido on 4-16-2011. All of a sudden JuanMa appeared in the ring along side Gamboa, and he told Max that after Salido, he would like to fight Gamboa. He explained that he has never said no to the fight, and neither has Gamboa, so he feels the two should meet. What a helluva fight that will make. To close things out, Jorge Solis said it was terrible fighting Gamboa. He explained that it was worse than fighting Pacman, and that he felt Gamboa hit harder! What a compliment! Can’t top that!