August 14, 2003
Ex-WBA 105-pound champ currently ranked #2 by the WBA, Joma Gamboa (32-7-2, 22 KOs), Philippines, will fight Rodel Quilaton, Philippine #7 108-pound contender, in Cebu, Philippines on September 6. The hard-punching Filipino once seized the WBA belt by beating the current champ Noel Arambulet, Venezuela, on points in Tokyo in August 2000, but lost it to Japanese Keitaro Hoshino in his first defense in Yokohama in December that year. The WBA 105-pound throne changed hands to Chana Porpaoin, and then to Yutaka Niida who surprisingly renounced it without making a defense. Gamboa and Hoshino fought for the vacant WBA belt with the Japanese emerging victorious to regain it in January 2002. Since then, Gamboa floored Daisuke Iida twice to pound out a lopsided decision in Shizuoka, Japan, last November. Gamboa, 30, is gunning for a shot at the 108-pound belt against either WBA champ Rosendo Alvarez or WBC ruler Jorge Arce.
(8-14-03)