Juan Manuel Lopez Thinks Yuriorkis Gamboa Was Stupid To Take On Brandon Rios

Juan Manuel Lopez and Yuriorkis Gamboa will always be linked in my mind. Both came up as Top Rank prospects, and they were going to have a big fight together if they managed to be undefeated. The dream of that super fight took a major hit last year when Juan Manuel Lopez lost to Orlando Salido. After that loss, Top Rank seemed to favor Yuriorkis Gamboa as their most-prized prospect. However, these two fighters might have switched places with the events that happened today.

[ Related: Gamboa No-Shows Rios Presser, Fight Likely Off ]

JuanMa spoke to Kevin Idec about the potential fight between Gamboa and Brandon Rios.

"I think [Gamboa] going up to 135 is not a real smart thing to do. I think there's a lot of good fights here at 126 that he could've done. I think he's making a mistake by going up there. I know Rios has problems making 135, and that's what they're hoping, that he kills himself to make that weight. But at the end of the day, he's just a bigger, stronger guy and I don't think it's so smart to jump up to that division."

I agree with Lopez, that taking on Rios at 135 had huge risks, but it also had a huge upside as well. If he would have won the fight, Gamboa would have been on most people's pound-for-pound lists, and he would have solidified his position as a must see fighter.

Later in the interview, Lopez said that he eventually wanted to fight Gamboa. It seems that he might need to wait a good amount of time before that fight even becomes a possibility. If Gamboa leaves Top Rank, then the only way that fight could happen is if Lopez eventually left Top Rank as well. I guess this matchup will be remembered as just another potential big fight that simmered for too long.