Mikey Garcia-Yuriorkis Gamboa targeted for May 17

[GRIM]

Now this is great news lets hope it actually falls through.

 

 

Top Rank CEO Bob Arum told RingTV.com on Saturday that negotiations are ongoing for  Mikey Garcia to rise into the 135-pound weight class for a May 17 clash against Yuriorkis Gamboa.

"The fight is do-able, and I'm sure that it will be made, or, least I think that it will be made. HBO wants it, and it all depends on if HBO puts up the money," said Arum. "If it happens, it's going to be at The Forum in Los Angeles on May 17. We've booked The Forum for a show, and we can't wait to be the first fight in The Forum. But it's not finalized yet."

 

Gamboa and his promoter Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson were ringside at Madison Square Garden last month when Garcia (34-0, 28 knockouts) unanimously decisioned Juan Carlos Burgos in the first defense of his WBO junior lightweight title.

Prior to facing Burgos, Garcia, 26, had scored an eighth-round knockout of Roman “Rocky” Martinez  on Nov. 9 that earned him the WBO belt and represented his 10th stoppage victory over the course of his previous 11 fights.

 

The Martinez win represented the second major title in a second weight class for Garcia, who earned THE RING and WBO featherweight championships last January by beating Orlando Salido.

Garcia dropped Salido four times en route to an eight-round technical decision, and followed up that victory up with a fourth-round knockout of Juan Manuel Lopez in June.

 

Less than a week after vanquishing Martinez, Garcia expressed his desire to rise into the 135-pound weight class for a bout with Gamboa during a November interview with RingTV.com.

"I just think that if Gamboa is ready to fight, and that if we can get a fight together, then I’m ready to take on any fighter. As a champion, you should be ready to defend the title. We haven’t discussed any weight, but I wouldn’t care, really," said Garcia, in part.

 

"To me, Gamboa is the same fighter at 126, 130 or 135. So it doesn’t really matter what weight you’re talking for that fight. If we can get it to where the weight is not the issue, then we could move forward and just get the fight on."

Meanwhile, Gamboa (23-0, 16 KOs) was last in the ring for a unanimous decision over Colombia’s Darley Perez on the undercard of Adonis Stevenson's  first-round knockout of  Chad Dawson in June.

 

Prior to facing Perez, Gamboa, 32, rose from a ninth-round knockdown after scoring one each in the second and seventh to secure a unanimous decision over Michael Farenas on the undercard of Juan Manuel Marquez’s sixth-round knockout of Manny Pacquiao in December of 2012