Emanuel Steward in The Dark on Gamboa's Plans, Status

By Chris Robinson

Recently I spoke with trainer Emanuel Steward about the upcoming duel between his charge, Ireland’s Andy Lee, and WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. The is penciled in for an HBO showcase on June 16th at the Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas, and Steward seemed very eager when assessing Chavez as an impending foe.

But while the camaraderie will surely be at a full tilt as Steward prepares Lee for Chavez, he can’t deny a slight touch of sorrow when discussing the collapse of the proposed April 14th fight between his previous client and former featherweight titlist Yuriorkis Gamboa and former lightweight champion Brandon Rios.

Steward began working with Gamboa a few months after the Cuban’s technical-decision victory over Daniel Ponce De Leon last August and seemed thrilled when he began hearing rumors of a possible move up in weight to challenge the Oxnard, Calif.-based Rios.

In fact, I had crossed paths with Steward in San Antonio, Texas on the night of February 4th, as he had just wrapped up his duties calling the HBO-televised doubleheader headlined by Chavez’s drubbing of Marco Antonio Rubio at the Alamodome. Gamboa’s name was brought up during our conversation and Steward pulled out his phone, showing me a picture of how Yuriorkis was looking in camp.

One month later and Gamboa would pull a Houdini by not showing up at scheduled press conferences in Miami and Los Angeles to promote the fight and it soon became clear that he was no longer interested in facing Rios. Gamboa has instead been spending his time at various locales in Las Vegas, most notably the Mayweather Boxing Club, and was eventually hit with a lawsuit by his co-promoter Top Rank, who cited a breach of contract against him.
Steward admits that he was disappointed at how everything played out.

“Yes I am, because I was really looking forward to the fight,” Steward noted. “Not just so much for working the corner, but as a fan I thought it was going to be our first exciting fight that I, as a fan, was excited about. April 14th was locked in my mind. I was just so excited about that date.”

And throughout the entire ordeal, Steward was never given any notice from Gamboa and really had no clue at how the situation would unfold.

“I went down to Florida just before I was leaving to train Wladimir [Klitschko],” Steward added. “And the the next thing I know I started reading [about Gamboa’s situation] just like everyone else.”

There are several questions that have yet to be answered and Gamboa’s career, one that saw him win all of his 21 fights after 4 ½ years as a professional, is now in limbo.
Steward is unsure what Gamboa’s connection to Mayweather really signals and doesn’t pretend to know what is going on behind closed doors.

“Maybe he’s getting advice from them that’s going to prevent them from making the fight," Steward mused. "I have no idea what’s going to happen. I don’t think nobody knows what’s going to happen.”