Juan Manuel Lopez knows the question is coming. These days, it always does. And when the words are finally spoken, Lopez breaks out into a laugh.
?I knew it,? he said, chuckling, when 10 minutes or so into the interview the question arises. ?I knew you couldn?t resist. It happens every time.?
Lopez, the World Boxing Organization?s unbeaten featherweight champion, meets Orlando Salido on Saturday in Bayamon, Puerto Rico. Despite that, however, Lopez said that in every interview he?s done, the reporters have asked him as much, or more, about Yuriorkis Gamboa than they have about Salido.
Salido is no pushover. He went 12 competitive rounds with Gamboa, the World Boxing Association International Boxing Federation featherweight champion, in September in Las Vegas. And Salido once defeated Roberto Guerrero to win the IBF featherweight belt, though the result of that bout was changed to a no contest and the title stripped when Salido tested positive for an anabolic steroid in a postfight test.
Lopez is a big favorite, but it isn?t like he?s fighting a guy with no chance. Yet most of his interviews dwell on the Gamboa fight and, more specifically, on why it?s not happening.
And as eager as he is to fight Gamboa and prove that he?s the best featherweight in the world, Lopez said he understands that it isn?t time yet.
?That?s a huge fight,? he said of a potential match with Gamboa. ?It?s all about money. When the money is there, then we?ll fight. It doesn?t make sense for us to fight each other until then, because we may never get the money (we leave on the table) back.?
If Lopez defeats Salido on Saturday, he won?t move onto a fight with Gamboa. Rather, he?ll rematch with the great Mexican veteran Rafael Marquez, whom he stopped after eight rounds in November. Marquez claimed he quit that night because of a shoulder injury, so Lopez agreed to give him another shot, even though the injury claims are dubious at best and it was clear which man was the better fighter that night.
?The Mexican public has voiced its opinion and they?ve said they don?t think I won that fight legitimately,? Lopez said. ?I?m OK with fighting him again. I feel I won the fight clearly, but if people have questions, I?m fine with doing it again and make it more obvious.?
And it doesn?t hurt that Marquez is a big name and a future Hall of Fame member. Lopez promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank said it will be another step on the path toward a Lopez-Gamboa fight.
Arum said he?d put the match on either HBO or Showtime now, but said neither network has shown an inclination to this point to put up the kind of a license fee it would take to make a deal. Arum said he believes each fighter will demand $3 million and said if he got a license fee of that size from either network, he?d give it all to the fighters for them to split evenly.
But in the absence of the television money, Arum said he?d have to finance it himself by putting it on pay-per-view. And he said he?s not willing to do that until he?s convinced he can sell around 200,000 pay-per-view units, which would be a break-even point if he had to pay both fighters $1.5 million.
?There is all of this talk on the Internet from people who read (Yahoo! Sports) and boxing sites out there about having them fight, but those are the people in the audience we already have,? Arum said. ?That?s not enough of an audience to support a pay-per-view of this magnitude. We have to get it out there to the general public and have the average sports fan want to see the fight. Do you seriously believe that right now, the average sports fan is asking for that fight??
Lopez is 30-0 with 27 knockouts and possesses one of boxing?s most fan-friendly styles. Gamboa, a Cuban who won the flyweight gold medal in the 2004 Athens Olympics, is 20-0 with 16 knockouts and may own the best combination of speed and power in the sport outside of Manny Pacquiao.
A Lopez-Gamboa fight might be the best fight in boxing that could be made in terms of excitement and explosiveness.
Lopez said he?s eager for it and knows that some fans will compare his performance against Salido to Gamboa?s, just as they have compared his shaky 2009 victory over Rogers Mtagwa to Gamboa?s blowout stoppage of Mtagwa in 2010.
Lopez, though, said he?s not concerned and said he isn?t going to try to make a statement against Salido. He heaped praise upon Salido and said he?s simply going to try to do what he does every time out and put on a great show that makes the fans feel like they?ve gotten their money?s worth.
?We are entertainers and people are paying a lot of money to see us,? he said. ?I put in the world in the gym so that I can go out there every time and give them the show they want to see. I don?t want anyone to feel they got cheated. I always want to put on a show.?
That attitude will help Arum eventually make the Gamboa fight. It?s an attitude that Gamboa, who will be ringside on Saturday, has also.
It?s inevitable that they meet, though how soon it happens will depend on Arum?s success in getting the word out.
?It?s a sensational fight and real boxing fans want to see it,? Arum said. ?I want to see it. I am going to put all of my efforts into keeping them going and trying to build a fight between them. It?s a long, sometimes difficult process. It?s definitely not easy, but I am going to do everything in my power to get them to a point where they fight and it?s the event that everyone wants it to be.?
