By Jhonny Gonzalez
Yuriorkis Gamboa recently announced that he was leaving the featherweight division and moving up to 130-pounds. According to Peter Rivera, President of Puerto Rico Best Boxing, the move by Gamboa will not prevent a possible fight with Juan Manuel Lopez in 2012. Top Rank, who co-promote Lopez with Rivera, were building a Gamboa-Lopez bout for the last two years. The plan took a turn for the worse when Orlando Salido scored an upset TKO over Lopez in April.
Lopez will return on October 1 against Mike Oliver in Puerto Rico. If he wins, the next step would be a rematch with Salido before a move to 130. Making the weight is a struggle and Rivera states that it could be the final year for Lopez at 126.
"Juanma has said that perhaps this is his final year at 126 pounds. This is not a case where the fight with Gamboa has not happened because we don't want to do it, it's more a business decision for all parties," Rivera told Carlos Gonzalez.
