Rigondeaux vs. Donaire Turning Into Gamboa vs. Rios

Bob Arum called Yuriorkis Gamboa's decision to agree to a fight against Brandon Rios for a million-plus payday, conditional on two press conferences in Miami and LA to promote the fight, and then going AWOL for both press conferences while everyone else attended, and, finally, backing out of the fight without so much as a formal announcement, unprecedented in his promoting career.

Charming distinction to have as a feather in your cap at the age of 30 as your boxing career moves forward. There were issues with his wife also, where Gamboa was arrested for domestic violence (later dropped). Now PEDs are being linked to Gamboa also.

Gamboa's also coming off of perhaps the sloppiest performance of his career as a pro. His skill set, like Mike Tyson's before him, doesn't age all that well. And he was a fighter to be hit well before his foot-speed or reflexes reflected his age (and inactivity).

Fast forward to the last week with Guillermo Rigondeaux receiving 750k for the biggest fight of his career against Nonito Donaire. His biggest purse to date is 220k. Nice jump. So what does he do leading into the fight? Refuse to sign his contract on the condition that Bob Arum settle a lawsuit with Rigo's co-promoter. Arum has basically responded by telling him to go fuck himself and that he's fully content to replace Rigo with a cheaper opponent. Rigondeaux of course headlined a fight not long ago that had a gate of less than 15k despite his own 50k payday.

If you're embarking on a career as a promoter, this isn't exactly the kind of fight that would have you licking your chops to sign him up as your star attraction.

So where Gamboa left off with maybe the most self-defeating career move in boxing of the last decade or two, leave it to Rigo to pick up the slack on the snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

Very, very annoying.

And this opportunity, which he left for in the first place, stands a very good chance of never coming around again...