Andrew Fruman recaps Saturday night's HBO double-header featuring Yuriorkis Gamboa vs Roger Mtagwa and Juan Manuel Lopez vs Steven Luevano.

Juan Manuel Lopez took care of business – and looked reasonably good in the process – but it was Yuriorkis Gamboa that stole the show.

The lightning quick, big punching Olympian was in dynamite form as he led off the HBO double-header by blowing out the always game Roger Mtagwa in less than 2 rounds.

The same Mtagwa that just 3 months ago pushed Juan Manuel Lopez to the brink. No such run at a Cinderella tale this time for the Tanzanian born Philly fighter, as right from the start it was clear that Gamboa was just too fast.

Swiftly moving about the ring and looking more responsible defensively than usual, Gamboa landed hard left hooks and stinging right hands almost at will. After catching Mtagwa clean on a couple occasions in the first minute, he staggered the rugged journeyman with a hard left hook just past the 1 minute mark.

Undaunted by the great speed disparity, Mtagwa pressed forward, but couldn’t catch the Cuban who remained elusive despite standing his ground for the most part. By rounds end, Gamboa had scored a knockdown – a cobra like lead left hook did the trick, catching Mtagwa high on the forehead.

The second round was a one sided drubbing, with Gamboa driving Mtagwa backwards with a two handed assault. Mtagwa came up empty firing wild right hands in return, and was staggered at the 1:30 mark by a left/right combination. The 2nd knockdown of the fight came soon after, as a hard right hand drove Mtagwa into the ropes, with a follow-up combo dropping the retreating fighter.

Mtagwa was up at 5, and allowed to continue by referee Steve Smoger, but was quickly staggered by another hard left. He fired back gamely, but was driven back into the ropes, where a flurry dropped him to the canvas once more. Smoger had seen enough, and the fight was stopped at the 2:35 mark.

With that impossible act to follow, Juan Manuel Lopez went to work in the main-event against Steven Luevano.

The first couple of rounds between the two southpaws were fairly cautious, with the hard hitting Lopez not yet fully committing to the attack. If anyone had an edge in the opening frame, it might have been Luevano who landed his jab effectively, while Lopez may have narrowly got the better of the second, closing a tight round strongly with a hard combination just before the bell.

Lopez started to find the mark with solid shots in the 3rd – catching Luevano with a hard straight left early in the round – the first real damaging blow for either man – and then having much the better of the action over the rounds final minute. Luevano was responding with his share of clean counters – but not landing with the same authority.

Lopez started to pull away in the 4th round, landing thudding shots while commanding the space as Luevano began to retreat. Luevano was still clipping Lopez, but it was clear after each exchange that the Puerto Rican was by far the stronger operator. As the round came to a close, Luevano was starting to look a little ragged, with Lopez driving him back against the ropes with punishing shots, that included some nice uppercuts and hooks on the inside.

Lopez kept his upper-hand in the 5th, winning the battle at longer range in the frame’s opening minute, before pressing his initiative in close, landing a really nice right just before the mid-way part of the round, and a hard uppercut about 10-15 seconds later. With his returns at a distance diminishing, Luevano chose to battle back at close quarters, and had some success over the final 60 seconds of the round.

Determined to hang on to his title – yes, he was the title holder, despite being relegated to a mere afterthought in the Top Rank promotion - Luevano kept battling in the 6th, but the difference in power had become all too evident. Each time Luevano looked like he might be doing some good work, Lopez managed to drive him back with harder shots.

Entering the 7th, a Lopez win appeared a foregone conclusion, but the sudden nature of the ending was still a little surprising.

With the action in the middle of the ring, Luevano ducked under a right hook / left hand combination – only to walk flush into a heavy right uppercut. The punch had Luevano immediately walking backwards towards the corner on unsteady legs, with Lopez in hot pursuit – and a follow-up right hook, left hand combo sent Luevano crashing to the canvas with his head resting against the corner padding.

Luevano was up at the count of 6, but in no shape to continue as he leaned against the top rope with his eyes glassy, and referee Benjy Esteves made the right call in stopping it.

The time was 0:44 of round 7.

With the two headliners winning as expected, it's time to serve up what boxing fans have been waiting for.  There's no good reason to keep these two apart any longer.

Juan Manuel Lopez vs Yuriorkis Gamboa - Please Bob, let's have it soon!.

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