By Mike Coppinger
NEW YORK -- Yuriorkis Gamboa, preparing to face Daniel Ponce de Leon on Saturday in Atlantic City, was supposed to be gearing up to face Juanma Lopez sometime in the near future. But the eagerly-anticipated featherweight clash was derailed when Orlando Salido shocked the world with an eighth round TKO of Lopez in April.
“You never know [in boxing], you can have a good fight with one fighter, then another bad fight with another fighter,” said Gamboa, 29. “I guess that’s what happened when he fought Juanma.
“I was a little bit disappointed, but really, I want to fight the best boxers and I guess if [Lopez] isn’t there, then I guess he’s not one of the best ones.”
Mike Coppinger is a regular boxing freelancer for USA TODAY and Ring Magazine. He’s a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America, the Ring Ratings Advisory Panel and the Yahoo! Sports Boxing Panel. Follow him on Twitter: @MikeCoppinger.