By Dan Ambrose: Bob Arum is taking his time in matching up his two stars WBO featherweight champion Juan Manuel Lopez (30-0, 27 KO’s) and WBA/IBF champion Yuriorkis Gamboa (19-0, 15 KO’s) in a fight. Instead of putting them in with each other, Arum is looking to slowly build up the fight for the future. The problem is that neither fighter is taking on anyone good enough to make them anymore popular than they already are.

Lopez, 27, is getting older and facing one of Gamboa’s retreads, Orlando Salido (34-11-2, 22 KO’s) in his next fight on April 16th at the Coliseo Roberto Clemente, San Juan, Puerto Rico. It’s difficult to understand why Lopez is being matched up against Salido, a fighter who just beaten by Gamboa. It’s like tossing away four months of Lopez’s career because not only was Salido just beaten, but he’s not someone that boxing fans ever talk about.

Having Lopez beat a guy that was just defeated by Gamboa seems kind of crazy to say the least. After Lopez gets finished beating up Salido, Arum is going to match Lopez back up with Rafael Marquez for a rematch. They fought last year in November with Lopez stopping the 35-year-old Marquez in the 8th round. I don’t see any point in a rematch taking place. That fight too seems like a waste of time for Lopez, but it looks like Arum is counting on the fight making money by attracting Mexican fans of Marquez who might want to see him fight. He’s going to lose because he’s too old now to beat a guy like Lopez. Hopefully, Arum doesn’t wait too long to put Gamboa and Lopez in together because if and when either them loses, the cash-out fight will be lost. Gamboa can be beaten anytime, and so can Lopez. They both have shaky chins.