By Dan Ambrose: Bob Arum is looking to let a fight between Yuriorkis Gamboa (21-0, 16 KO’s) and Nonito Donaire (26-1, 18 KO’s) marinate some more rather than letting them fight before one of them gets beaten. Arum says he’ll match them up in 2013 after both of them move up to the lightweight division.

Right now, Donaire is fighting at bantamweight, and Gamboa, 29, is on his way to moving up to super featherweight. I think Arum is making another mistake because both of these guys could get beaten and waiting until they’re both near or over 30-years-old will mean that they’ll be starting to slow down.

These aren’t heavyweights. Smaller fighters tend to fade a lot quicker than the larger ones, and I think Arum is taking a huge risk by not putting them in against each other right now instead of waiting. He already screwed up a fight between Juan Manuel Lopez and Gamboa by waiting too long to match them.

Lopez got whipped by Orlando Salido, and now Arum is trying to see if Lopez can avenge that defeat so that he can finally match Lopez with Gamboa. It’s too in my eyes. The fight won’t be what it could have been had Arum not waited so long trying to build up the fight. Look at these guys. They’re both nearing 30. How long you going to wait?

Speaking with RingTV, Arum said “After Gamboa fights as a lightweight, Donaire will be coming up to lightweight. I think they can fight at lightweight. About a year and a half will be good. Sometime next year we’ll see Gamboa fight for the lightweight title, probably against Brandon Rios.”

If Arum matches Gamboa up with Rios then he can pretty much forget about putting Gamboa in with Donaire because Gamboa will lose to Rios. See what I mean? This is a bonehead move. Arum should be matching Gamboa up with Donaire now and then moving onto a better fight against Rios after Gamboa beats Donaire. But putting Gamboa in with Rios, the bigger and stronger fighter compared to Donaire, is a bad move.

Gamboa is too small for super featherweight, let alone lightweight. He struggled in the past at super featherweight, and while I think Gamboa will win the fights he’s put in with at super featherweight, he won’t beat Rios. That’s not happening. It will be another missed opportunity for Arum.