I know it?s April Fools? Day but the following snippet of info coming from the boxing world appears to be no joke.
It?s no secret that Top Rank CEO Bob Arum has been a little disgruntled with his client Yuriorkis Gamboa in recent weeks. Gamboa, an undefeated former champion in the featherweight class from Cuba, was linked up with an April 14th bout with Brandon Rios at the Mandalay Bay but the fight soon unraveled.
On March 5th and 6th, Gamboa bailed out on scheduled press conferences in Miami and Los Angeles to promote the fight, as he was instead spotted training at his friend Floyd Mayweather?s personal gym in in Las Vegas. Soon thereafter, Gamboa came forward and expressed displeasure with his co-promotional pacts with Top Rank and Arena-Box, also claiming that he never fully signed a contract to face off with Rios, a former champion at 135 pounds.
With Rios-Gamboa up in smoke, Arum would turn to his attention to fellow Cuban and WBA interim lightweight champion Richard Abril as a replacement. Top Rank would later follow up with a lawsuit against Gamboa, citing a breach of contract.
Weeks went by without any real word from Gamboa but it appears that he recently reached out to manager and promoter Luis DeCubas Sr. to arrange a meeting with Arum to settle their differences. According to Rick Reeno at BoxingScene.com, Gamboa was to meet with Arum at the Cosmopolitan Hotel at 1 PM yesterday but once again, it looks as though Yuriorkis was a no-show.
?DeCubas called me with Gamboa,? Arum would state. ?Gamboa was talking to me in broken English, telling me ?I love you, I love you?. He requested the meeting. I don?t know what?s going on.?
Make no mistake about it, as Gamboa is definitely still lurking around in Las Vegas, as he was spotted training alongside Mayweather earlier this week while also being seen with super middleweight contender Andre Dirrell last night.
