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Dan Rafael of ESPN.com reports via Twitter that the double-header featuring Brandon Rios and Yuriorkis Gamboa in separate fights will be moving both date and location. The card was originally slated for March 3 at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif., and now will head to Las Vegas' Mandalay Bay on April 14.
Rios (29-0-1, 22 KO) has been linked to all-action fighter John Molina as a potential opponent, but word is that the fight has all but fallen apart. Rios, who failed to make weight for his December 3 win over John Murray, has been working with a nutritionist to attempt to stay in the lightweight division, at least in the short-term.
One of the reasons it might be worth trying to stay at 135 is the impending challenge from current featherweight titlist Yuriorkis Gamboa (21-0, 16 KO).
Gamboa won a pair of fights on HBO last year, destroying Jorge Solis in March and following that with a more ho-hum win over Daniel Ponce De Leon in September. He said after that fight that he wanted to move up in weight to chase challenges, one of which was Rios, who went 3-0 in 2011, all exciting fights.
There have been two rumored potential opponents for Gamboa's next fight, which likely will take place at 130 pounds. One is Rocky Juarez, which would be an absolute joke as Juarez has lost five straight and hasn't won a fight since 2008, and I can't imagine HBO approving that fight. It would be really, really terrible.
The other is Puerto Rican slugger Roman "Rocky" Martinez, a former titleholder still trying to get back in the mix after his 2010 loss to Ricky Burns (full fight video). The fight has been rumored, but Martinez was non-committal at best in comments about any negotiations for the fight. Gamboa would be a huge favorite, but then Gamboa will be a huge favorite over most anyone he faces at this point.
As long as the fights are at least against guys who come to win and come to provide action, you really can't go wrong with Gamboa and Rios in a double-header, so this is already a card I'm eager to see despite no named opponents. Hopefully if both win, and Rios can stay at 135 comfortably, this will lead to a Rios vs Gamboa fight by the end of the year. There's no way that fight is bad, and the style mix could be really, really intriguing.