Devin Haney vs Yuriorkis Gamboa Preview Nov. 7th
Unbeaten WBC Lightweight Champion Devin Haney of San Francisco will be defending his title for the second time time this Saturday, Nov 7th when he takes takes on veteran Yuirokis Gamboa of Cuba. The 12-rounder can be seen live in North America on DAZN. Gamboa last fought in December when he was stopped in the 12th round against Gervonta Davis for the vacant WBA Lightweight Crown while Haney also fought in December and defended his belt via a unanimous decision against Alfredo Santiago. He originally won the interim WBC belt when he stopped Zaur Abdullaev after four rounds in September, 2019.
**Watch live on DAZN this Saturday. Your first month is free.
Haney vs Gamboa Betting Odds
Here are the betting odds from online sportsbook BetOnline.ag (full review here).
- Yuriorkis Gamboa +1150
- Devin Haney -2500
My Pick
The 21-year-old Haney is regarded as a can’t miss prospect by most boxing fans and experts following an excellent 138-bout amateur career after getting into the sport as a seven-year-old. He won a silver medal at the USA Junior National Championships in 2013 and reached the quarterfinals of the World Juniors the same year. He then won a gold medal at the 2014 US Junior National Championships and the 2015 USA Youth National Championships.
He was the youngest boxer ever to win the Youth World Championships and captured a total of seven national titles along the way. Haney, who was born in San Francisco and fights out of Las Vegas, then turned pro in December of 2015 as a 16-year-old and has a perfect record of 24-0 with 15 Kos and has boxed 126 rounds. He’s also won several regional and minor titles along the way including the WBC Youth World, USBA, IBF North American, WBC International, and WBO Inter-Continental Lightweight Belts.
Haney stands 5-feet-8-inches tall with a 71-inch reach and possesses tremendous skills and speed. He’s not the most powerful puncher out there but has a current knockout ratio of 62.5 per cent. His first four pro fights took place in Mexico since he was too young to box professionally at the time. He’s beaten everybody in front of him so far with his toughest opponents being Santiago, Antonio Moran, Mason Menard, Juan Carlos Burgos and Xolisani Ndongeni.
The 38-year-old Gamboa enters the fight with an impressive record of 30-3 with 18 Kos. His first career loss was a ninth-round TKO to Terence Crawford in a WBO World Lightweight Title fight in June of 2014. His second defeat was to Robinson Castellanos in May of 2017 when he was stopped after the seventh round and his third came to Davis. He just managed to beat Alexis Reyes in August of 2017 after having three points deducted in the fight and squeaked past Jason Sosa by majority decision in November, 2017 after losing a point.
Although he’s on the downside of his career now, Gamboa still has has quick hands but usually doesn’t let them go nearly enough and has just two stoppages in his last 13 fights. Gamboa, who fights out of Miami, Florida, stands just over 5-feet-5-inches tall with a 65-inch reach so he gives up 2.5 inches in height to Haney and six inches in reach. He’s boxed 207 rounds since turning pro and has somewhat underrated power with a current knockout ratio of 54.6 per cent.
Gamboa had an excellent amateur career with 250 bouts and won a gold medal for Cuba as a flyweight at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece. In some fans’ eyes Gamboa has sort of wasted his opportunity at an excellent pro career due to his constant periods of inactivity. He’s held a featherweight world title and interim lightweight belt and has wins over Roman Martinez, Miguel Beltran, Orlando Salido, Daniel Ponce De Leon, Jorge Solis, and Jonathan Victor Barros. His chin let him down somewhat in his three losses and he just doesn’t seem to be the fighter he once was.
Prediction…
Gamboa is 17 years older than Haney and although he gave Gervonta Davis all he could handle last year, he’s in the twilight of his career. Still, it’s a test Haney needs to pass and since he owns plenty of speed and pure boxing skills I’m expecting Haney to retain his title on Saturday.
Haney is much younger and has better pure skills at this stage of their careers.
Play: Haney -2500 @ BetOnline.ag
Check out my recent boxing betting picks to see my current form.
Devin Haney betting • Yuriorkis Gamboa betting