Robert Garcia: Gamboa will never get a shot at Mikey or Rios

By Boxing News - 01/21/2014 - Comments

gamboa545By Chris Williams: Trainer Robert Garcia has ruled out Yuriorkis Gamboa (23-0, 16 KO’s) getting a shot at WBO super featherweight champion Mikey Garcia and Brandon Rios. Robert says he doesn’t want to let Gamboa fight Mikey or Rios because of Gamboa walking away from a fight with Rios two years ago, leaving him in the situation where he had to fight the tough Cuban Richard Abril.

Gamboa walked away form the fight because he felt that he didn’t get the money that he felt he should have been getting. Robert doesn’t care about why Gamboa walked away from the fight. All Robert cares about is that he left Rios standing there without the fight. I don’t buy what Robert is saying as the real reason why he doesn’t want to let Gamboa fight Mikey and Rios. I get the feeling Robert is afraid that Gamboa will beat both of them, and clean out Robert’s Oxnard, California stable in the process.

“When a fighter does that, never give him a shot again,” Robert said to Hitfirstboxing. “He can call out Brandon; he can call out Mikey; he can say whatever he wants; He’s never getting shot. My fighters are never going to fight him. I can tell you that for sure.”

The interesting part about the interview is how Robert seemed to work himself into a fit over a mere question. I thought I was watching a Fox interview of Richard Sherman, because Robert got angry from a simple question. The obvious thought here is what is Robert afraid of? Is he afraid that Rios would get dominated by Gamboa? Is Robert worried that Mikey will lose as well, and miss his big money shot against Manny Pacquiao in the future? I think that’s what it is.

I sense a lot of fear from Robert when it comes to Gamboa fighting Mikey and Rios, because Robert’s got to know that Gamboa would take away both of their best weapons on offense and make them look bad. I get the impression that Robert doesn’t have confidence in Mikey or Rios that they can beat Gamboa, and that’s okay. I don’t blame Robert for being reluctant to put Rios and Mikey in with Gamboa, because he’s a lot more skilled than those guys are and I think he would expose Mikey.

Rios has already been exposed, so all Gamboa would do with him is finish him off as one of Bob Arum’s Top Rank stable fighters. At some point Arum will need to let Rios go after he suffers a certain amount of losses, and Gamboa would help hurry the process up for when Rios is no longer useful for Arum.



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