Brandon Rios shows for L.A. news conference, Gamboa doesn’t

Oxnard’s Brandon Rios boarded a six-hour flight to Miami for a news conference, then took the return trip home for Tuesday’s session with reporters in Los Angeles.

Yuriorkis Gamboa attended neither event.

This isn’t good, considering Gamboa, the unbeaten world featherweight champion, is scheduled to fight unbeaten former world lightweight champion Rios on April 14 at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas – the lynchpin event of HBO’s World Championship Boxing program this year.

“I don’t know what’s going on,” Rios said at the downtown Milennium Biltmore Hotel. “I did my job. I took time off from training camp. [Gamboa] asked for the Miami press conference, and he’s nowhere to be found, then I hear he’s in Las Vegas when we do it.

“It shows you he’s scared.”

Well, it likely shows you the 30-year-old Cuban immigrant Gamboa (21-0, 16 knockouts) wants more money beyond the estimated $1 million he was expected to earn for the bout.

Gamboa was spotted Monday at Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s boxing club in Las Vegas, but where he’s going now – or what he wants – remained mysterious Tuesday.

Todd duBoef, the president of the Top Rank promotional company that keeps Rios and Gamboa in its stable, said he agreed to terms with Gamboa and his representatives Feb. 16.

“I have a binding commitment,” DuBoef said. “I would not go forward with HBO, with the arena, with the travel, the hotel rooms, these news conferences, if I did not have a document showing he’s agreed to terms.

“I’m not chasing him. He’s a prizefighter who needs to stick to his commitments like all of those prizefighters before him have done. You’re not bigger than the sport.”

Top Rank is consulting its attorneys and is not obligated to be patient with Gamboa about renewing his interest in fighting Rios after his consultant originally asked for a Rios fight in December.

“I don’t give [a care] what anybody says,” DuBoef said, pointing to Rios, who stood alone on a table-less news conference stage Tuesday. “That boy will be fighting April 14 at Mandalay Bay. I’m not letting anybody dictate terms to me.”

Whether or not it represented a sweetener to entice Gamboa back, duBoef announced Tuesday that a Rios-Gamboa winner would earn a $100,000 winner’s bonus.

The bout was to match Rios’ superb power against Gamboa’s lightning speed.

Rios and his manager, Cameron Dunkin, said they have no information about who could be used as a fill-in opponent April 14.

Dunkin said he and Rios’ aggravation was amplified after they were crammed into a cheap Miami motel room Monday, “where a fat [guy] like me can’t even turn around in the bathroom.”

After being stripped of his lightweight belt in December for failing to meet the 135-pound weight limit, Rios said he’d be interested in fighting only World Boxing Council lightweight champion Antonio DeMarco.

Otherwise, he’d want to fight a 140-pound foe, then pursue a July 17 bout at 140 against Juan Manuel Marquez.

“I could turn it around that quick,” Rios said. “I’m a warrior. I love my job.”

Rios, like DuBoef, wasn’t in a begging mood for Gamboa.

“This was going to be two young unbeaten fighters in their primes going at it, but I still think tickets can sell without him,” Rios said with 5,000 already sold. “I always give the fans a pleasing fight, and I’m feeling great working with a new nutritionist. This new dieting method is working. I can see the pounds coming off.”

Gamboa may soon see the dollars flying out of his bank account amid talk of a potential lawsuit for the damages that could be sought for backing out of the fight agreement and a long-term contract with Top Rank.

“I’m not going to make any moves without consulting my attorney,” DuBoef said of Daniel Petrocelli, who won a civil judgement againstO.J. Simpsonwhile representing the family of Ron Goldman.

Someone in the room cracked, “I’d rather fight Brandon Rios than Daniel Petrocelli.”

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lance.pugmire@latimes.com

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