Makings of a showdown: Lopez and Gamboa KO foes at the Garden in route to their own mini mega fight

Saturday night boxing at the theater in Madison Square Garden showcased two of the top featherweight prospects who are on the cusp of boxing super stardom.
Juan Manuel Lopez who is heralded as the next Puertorican sensation and Cuban Olympic gold medalist Yuriorkis Gamboa are being groomed to face each other down the road and their fights which were broadcast by HBO were the perfect marketing tool for what will be a mini mega fight for the featherweight division if it materializes.

Juan Manuel Lopez (28-0, 25 KOs) or Juanma as he has been nicknamed is the more touted of the two and was given a title shot at the WBO featherweight champ Steven Luevano in the main event. The champion Luevano was a tough assignment for anyone due to his solid boxing skills and long reach. He was determined to get his jab pumping in the first round and was able to give Lopez some different looks before Juanma made the necessary adjustments to close the distance between them and start connecting with hooks and uppercuts that hurt the champion. Luevano was
stunned by a perfectly placed uppercut followed by a powerful right that dropped him in his corner. The refereed stopped the fight after Luevano got up and did not respond well to the referee's commands.

Lopez was coming up from junior featherweight where he was a champion there to collect his second title in as many weight classes. In his last fight at junior featherweight Lopez went to war with Rogers Mtgawa (26-14-2, 18 KOs) and almost suffered his first KO loss in the 12th round before holding on for a decision win.

Mtgawa was brought back on the heels of that valiant effort to test the mettle of rising Cuban prospect Yuroirkis Gamboa (17-0, 15 KOs) as the chief support of the main event and was given an ice cold beating over two rounds for his trouble. Gamboa's controlled aggression, power and speed were an insurmountable combination that Mtagwa could not survive. The Tanzania born fighter via Philadelphia was completely outclassed by the former Olympian who dropped him in both rounds, seemingly hurting Mtagwa with every connected punch until referee Steve Smoger brought an end to the slaughter in the second round. Gamboa's victory was impressive considering the trouble that Mtagwa gave Lopez in their encounter but in post fight interviews both winning fighters refused to compare themselves or their performances repeating the boxing mantra that styles make fights. All the same, boxing fans are now building up an appetite to see a collision between Lopez and Gamboa.