Yuriorkis Gamboa has been diagnosed with a complete tear of his right Achilles tendon and will undergo surgery to repair the injury.
Gamboa, a former unified featherweight world titleholder, got knocked down three times in a 12th-round knockout loss to Gervonta “Tank” Davis fighting for a vacant secondary lightweight world title on Dec. 28 at State Farm Arena in Atlanta. Gamboa showed enormous heart by fighting from the second round on despite the injury.
Gamboa had an MRI exam on the ankle on Thursday and received the results on Monday in which Dr. Eric Godreau, a Miami-based radiologist, made the diagnosis.
“There is a complete tear through the Achilles tendon,” Godreau wrote in his report. “The possibility of a fracture cannot be totally excluded.”
Gamboa’s surgery has not been scheduled yet but Tony Gonzalez, Gamboa’s longtime attorney and adviser, told ESPN that it likely will be within the next two weeks.
“That he was able to fight for as long as he did with this injury is incredible,” Gonzalez said. “From everything I have read and videos I have watched about this kind of injury he wasn’t supposed to do be able to do what he did. Speaking to him in my office when the dust settled I asked him, ‘How were you able to do this?’ He told me when he went down in the second round is when he felt the pain. He said the shot [from Davis] didn’t put him down. He said he was fine. He said, ‘What put me down was I felt a snap in the back of my leg. When I got up I started looking at the back of my leg.’ It’s amazing. I’m without words.
“He wasn’t supposed to even go to the third round with this kind of injury. If he is at 100 percent, connect the dots. We believe a rematch is warranted. He couldn’t move laterally the way he wanted to, couldn’t sit down on his punches. Gamboa at a 100 percent wasn’t even supposed to last four or five rounds. But he had a grade 3 rupture and went to the 12th round. I’ve never seen anything like it with this type of his injury. We are not trying to tarnish what Gervonta did but Gamboa feels being 100 percent it would have been a completely different fight. He knows it, I know it, Davis knows it.”
Gamboa (30-3, 18 KOs), 38, a Cuban defector and 2004 Olympic gold medalist fighting out of Miami, had a hard time finding his footing after suffering the injury. He said he would like a rematch after he has recovered.
“My injury sustained in the 2d round…complete tear [grade 3] verified as per MRI and board certified Dr. I went 12 with Davis and did my best under the circumstances,” Gamboa wrote on social media. “Like I said, lets dance again when I’m at 100%.”