Former Nevada boxing judge Chuck Giampa, now a consultant who advises fighters, will provide his occasional analysis of officials and scorecards when he’s not directly involved in an event. Here is his take on the the Yuriorkis Gamboa-Jose Rojas fight:

PRIMM, Nevada – Cuban defector Yuriorkis Gamboa of Miami brought his “A” Game against Venezuelan Jose Rojas on Friday night.

The first round was an indication of how each round would ultimately be defined. Gamboa (15-0, 13 knockouts) landed the harder punches while Rojas (25-7-1, 17 KOs) danced and missed in his attempt to counter punch. Gamboa easily won the first round. Rojas decided to stay away from the aggressive Gamboa, doing anything to avoid his punches, but had his right eye closed as a result of the relentless onslaught.

Gamboa finally scored a knockdown in the fifth round with a right to the head of Rojas. Gamboa was pitching a shutout after five rounds 50-44.

The vision of Rojas was impaired because of his swollen right eye, and Gamboa took advantage. Rojas was wild and elusive as he tried to stay out of harm's way of the ever-advancing Gamboa. When Rojas did connect, his punches were merely arm punches and made no difference in the scoring. Gamboa side-stepped a jab thrown by Rojas and connected with a solid right to the head that sent Rojas crashing into his own corner but he avoided another knockdown. Gamboa won the first eight rounds 80-71.

The ninth round started like all of the previous rounds. Then Gamboa connected with four unanswered punches to the head, causing the referee, Russell Mora, to call a halt to the fight at 1:31 of the ninth round.

Gamboa was declared the winner and the WBA featherweight champion by TKO.

Chuck Giampa can be contacted at [email protected]