Do you all really believe that Top Rank, Inc. had no idea that Gamboa was not going to show up? Was it just a coincidence that Abril shows up, challenges Rios, and then ends up with the fight? The majority of people have no clue who Abril really is? Sure, HBO is angry, but what it's done has done a little damage to Gamboa's name, and I'm sure that it's what Top Rank wanted to do. Look, we can all be pissed at the fighters for not doing all they can to please every fan, but sometimes we have to call it for what it is. You can't tell me these guys had no clue that he wasn't going to show. And everyone knew good and well he wasn't going to show in California either.
I think it is looking more obvious that Top Rank must have suspected and was hedging their bets by having Abril show up. There are reports now that there were rumblings that Gamboa was having a change of heart about the fight starting a few weeks before. The other thing I'm starting to believe is that Oscar was going to announce the signing of Gamboa and that once his legal team took a look at the contract that he backed off. Gamboa's current defense seems to be that he is a contractual free agent. That his original deal with Top Rank had expired and that for some reason the extension isn't valid.
