This was going to be a good fight, but in boxing nothing is a done deal until both parties are in the ring.
Gamboa started missing press conferences and appearances. It eventually lead to this.
The Brandon Rios-Yuriorkis Gamboa lightweight title bout, at risk for the past week after Gamboa skipped news conferences in Miami and Los Angeles because he was unhappy with a deal that promoter Top Rank said he had agreed to, was canceled late Tuesday.
Also on Tuesday, Top Rank filed a breach of contract suit against Gamboa in U.S. federal court in Nevada, seeking to have its contract with Gamboa upheld.
In the suit, a copy of which was obtained by ESPN.com, Top Rank claims that “on or around Feb. 16 Gamboa explicitly agreed to all material terms of a contract to fight Rios on April 14, 2012, including the date, opponent, travel arrangements, purses and advances. After agreeing to fight Rios, Gamboa requested, received and accepted in excess of $70,000 in advances from Top Rank and (co-promoter) Arena in anticipation of the Rios bout.”