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By: Paul Strauss

Lot’s of power exhibited at Madison Square Garden Theatre tonight. First, Ireland’s John Duddy made short work of Juan Astorga with a kayo at 1:55 of the first round. Then Yuriorkis Gamboa looked like he was operating at a different speed altogether than anyone else in the theatre when he demonstrated he couldn’t miss against Rogers Mtagwa. Then along came power punching JuanMa Lopez, who proceeded to punished Steven Luevano into a seventh round TKO

The most impressive performance of the night was that of Yuriorkis Gamboa. Although he didn’t knock Mtagwa out in the first round, it certainly looked like he good if he really wanted. The Tiger from Tanzania was game, and tried desperately, but every time he tried to throw a punch, especially his right, he would be eating Gamboa’s hard left hook. The heavy hands of Gamboa were clearly evident when his left hook landed on the forehead of Mtagwa, but still put him down. That was in the first round. After scoring that knockdown, Gamboa seemed content with strolling around the ring a bit. It was almost like he wanted to Mtagwa to recover so he could get a little more work.

The second round was more of the same. Gamboa couldn’t miss with the left hook, and just for good measure, he would throw in a few sharp right hands. The punch stats had Gamboa landing about 50% of his punches. It seemed more like ninety percent. He just couldn’t miss. He certainly followed the old boxing adage that says,