Fighter of the Week (4/1-4/7): Gal Yafai
On a relatively quiet weekend of prizefighting, which was dominated by a controversial scorecard that the judges got right, picking the "Fighter of the Week" was no easy task. However, one up-and-comer and potential world champion shinned super bright in Sin City as undefeated Flyweight and Olympic Gold Medalist Gal Yafai scored the biggest win of his career. As the Birmingham, UK native dominated and stopped Agustin Gauto of Argentina in eight one-sided arms to move his record 7-0 (5), pick up the WBC International Flyweight title, put himself in position to fight for a world title or a big money fight and takes homes our "Fighter of the Week" Award.
Yafai started quickly piling up the rounds and putting them in the bank off of slick movement, excellent footwork, a sharp jab, and brilliant combinations. Things looked grim for the Argentine, as time was called before the start of the fifth so the ringside doctor could take a good look at Gauto. The visit from the doc looked to fire Gauto up, who got going and had some success in the middle rounds. Applying pressure and getting inside on, making the gold medalist uncomfortable. Yafai was buckled by a right hand that landed over his lazy defense. Later, a clash of heads opened up a cut over the left eye of Yafai to make matters worse. More adversity was dealt to the unbeaten rising contender in round six. A clash of heads left Yafai with a cut over his left eye. It was in a bad place and bled throughout the balance of the fight. Yafai put an end to the momentum and seized control of the fight for good in the eighth. A litany of power shots left Gauto in trouble again as the Brit unloaded, and the referee was forced to stop the fight at the 2:40 mark of the 8th round.
The path for the former Gold Medalist is clear as day. A fight with Sunny Edwards is on the horizon. If it's next, is an important question. That depends on two things. First, is Yafai ready? He has looked good and dominated both Gauto and Rocco Santomauro in late 2023 on the undercard of Bam-Sunny, but neither of those is even close to the level of Edwards, who is the former world champion too much too quickly for Gafai. Should the Olympian take some other step-up fight first? The other question is, does Edwards jump right in with a hard-hitting, skilled craftsman, like Yafai straightaway? Or does Edwards take a little tune-up fight first?
