Tag: Brandon Rios
DANNY GARCIA KNOCKS OUT BRANDON RIOS IN WELTERWEIGHT TITLE ELIMINATOR SATURDAY ON SHOWTIME® FROM MANDALAY BAY EVENTS CENTER
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Garcia vs Rios Bout Sheet
Tensions Flare At Final Press Conference For Danny Garcia vs. Brandon Rios Welterweight World Title Eliminator – Quotes & Photos From Thursday’s Final Press Conference
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Special Sunday Edition of Premier Boxing Champions on FS1 & FOX Deportes on June 11 from The Pioneer Event Center in Lancaster, California
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Snippets On Arguably The Hottest Topics In The Sweet Science
Desert Stormed
Timothy Bradley (33-1-1 13 KO) wore down a poorly conditioned Brandon Rios (33-3-1 34 KO) and stopped him in the ninth on a series of body shots.
Bradley looked amazing, snapping straight right hands while exhibiting some of the best lateral movement he’s ever displayed. In addition, his defense was solid, hand speed elite and he utilized a side step-hook to the body combo beautifully on a few occasions.
Rios landed a few shots with more than one getting Bradley’s attention but did little else.
Bradley started to sit down on his punches in the seventh and in the ninth, buckled Rios to the canvas with a body shot. After Rios got up, Bradley attacked landing a hook to the body dropping Rios a second time. This time, Rios stayed down on a knee and waited to be counted out.
Bradley’s speed was way too much. Rios will always find difficulty with lighting quick opponents.
No surprise really. Yes Rios had looked good defeating Mike Alvarado in January but Alvarado by his own admission was grossly unprepared and shouldn’t have been in the ring.
Before that, Diego Chaves gave Rios a tough go and and Manny Pacquiao flat out dominated him. The signs of Rios’ decline have been present and the issues of his weight loss/gain only added to the problems.
Apparently, after barely not making weight then making it, Rios entered the ring on fight night in excess of 170. You could see the sluggishness impacting him each passing round as his rehydration plan backfired. After the fight Rios indicated he would retire.
Time for a public service announcement- alphabet soup, please get together and discuss the feasibility of same day weigh-ins or mandating limits for appropriate weight levels through rehydration.
Back to our regularly scheduled program-
Take nothing away from Bradley, he did what he was supposed to do. It was a very strong performance, just needs to be kept in perspective.
The partnership with Teddy Atlas is off to a rousing start.
The Return Of The King-Painting Masterpieces Fight After Fight
WBO Featherweight Champion Vasyl Lomachenko (5-1 3 KO) is six fights into his pro career and can already be included in the top pound for pound fighter discussions. Vasyl, meaning “king”, arguably the greatest amatuer ever is begining to breakthrough to another level in the pros.
On Saturday night in true “Hi-Tech” fashion, the Ukrainian dominated Romulo Koasicha (25-5 15 KO) before stopping him in the tenth on a flurry of punches culminating with a left to the midsection followed by a thunderous shot to the ribs. Game,Set, Match.
While Koasicha is not a championship caliber opponent, he is a solid pro and Loma made him look like a sparring partner.
Lomachenko’s footwork was sensational. He glides effortlessly to and from his opponent always in the position to counter or move out of harm’s way only slightly having to absorb anything in return. That’s not to say that he won’t be willing to take one to give one as he showed against Koasicha.
Lomachenko landed 64 % of his power punches according to Compubox.
“I was having fun in there if I wanted to knock him out earlier, I would have.” said Lomachenko
A matchup with Guillermo Rigondeaux would be amazing and we may see the best Lomachenko yet.
Lomachenko is a master technician in the ring and puts on a performances utilizing a skill set like no other fighter today. If you love the sweetness of the science, Lomachenko’s your man.
Monaco Masher
Ruslan Provodnikov (25-4 18 KO) stopped Jesus Alvarez Rodriguez (14-1 11 KO) in the fourth round in Monaco.
Who? Ya, I know, not really a household name facing the former WBO junior welterweight champion. Infact, out of fourteen fights, Alvarez-Rodriguez had only faced one fighter with a winning record.
In the fourth round, Provodnikov stunned Rodriguez with a big right. Sensing he was hurt, Provodnikov attacked with a barrage dropping Rodriguez. Provodnikov finished the job as Rodriguez got up, dazing him again with another right and then dropping him again with a left hook. The referee had seen enough.
This was Provodnikov’s first fight with ex-Bradley trainer, Joel Diaz since leaving Freddie Roach and we saw some glimpses of boxing from the slugger.
Ruslan turned boxer – puncher would be a scary thought, just sayin.
Ted Talk -Ideas Worth Screaming
“Are you ready for the fire? We are firemen. WE ARE FIREMEN! The heat doesn’t bother us. We live in the heat. We train in the heat. It tells us that we’re ready, we’re at home, we’re where we’re supposed to be. Flames don’t intimidate us. What do we do? We control the flame. We control them. We move the flames where we want to. And then we extinguish them.” -Teddy Atlas to Timothy Bradley
Christmas Early
Canelo v. Cotto under three weeks away, nuff said.
Quick Peek At…Bradley v. Rios
Interim and former WBO World welterweight and former WBC/WBO World super lightweight champion Timothy Bradley (32-1-1 12 KO) will knuckleup with former WBA world lightweight titlist Brandon Rios (33-2-1 24 KO) this Saturday night at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas live on HBO.
Rios will have about a two inch height advantage and Bradley a small reach advantage.
Bradley enters 1-1-1 in his last three; however his draw should have been a win. His last fight was a unanimous decision in June against Jessie Vargas; however not without a little drama.
Rios is 2-1 in his last three; however, one of his wins was a DQ. Rios was last in the office in January when he stopped Mike Alvarado in three.
Common opponents may provide a bit of clarity-
Manny Pacquiao-
Speed way too much for Rios while losing a close fight with Bradley that he most likely won and then in the rematch clearly outclassing Bradley.
Diego Chaves-
Gave Rios problems in a foul filled fest that the referee let get way out of control leading to the DQ. Split draw with Bradley in a bout Chaves clearly lost.
Lessons Learned Heading In-
Rios- In his last bout in January, Rios looked better than he had in years; however, how much was due to an opponent in Mike Alvarado who was battling addiction problems and had no business being in the ring? (See Standing-8 interview with Mike Alvarado)
Prior to Alvarado, Rios looked less than impressive against Chaves. He was plodding in his execution and looked to have lost his explosiveness.
Bradley- In his last bout in June, Bradley was comfortably winning an entertaining fight against Vargas; however, he was rocked in the twelfth round. The referee jumped in thinking he heard the bell which was actually the ten second indicator. Vargas thought the referee was stopping the fight and all chaos ensued.
What Does It All Mean?
Rios has the pop to repeat what Vargas did early and often; however it was clear in the Pacquiao and Chaves fight that Rios’ lateral movement and speed was diminished. He looked like he was reborn against Alvarado but again, Alvarado was a shell of himself due to his life outside of the ring. Take nothing away from Rios, it’s just hard to gauge exactly who the real Bam Bam is.
Bradley seems to be in a war every time he is in the ring. Quite frankly he makes his fights harder than they have to be. His fights are rough and tough and in Rios he will find a willing dance partner.
The deciding factor here is speed. Bradley should be able to make this a very easy fight with his speed and boxing ability. It will be interesting to see what a new trainer in Teddy Atlas will bring. If Teddy controls Bradley’s aggressiveness, has him box and then explode when the openings are there, this will be a one sided fight.
If Bradley fights similarly to what he has done in the past which is his version of rock em sock em robots, Rios will have plenty of chances. While Desert Storm has shown a great beard, he has shown glimpses of vulnerability at times; however with great recovery powers.
Outcome
Bradley by unanimous decision in an entertaining fight.
One caveat- If the fight is close, Bradley will not get the benefit of the doubt this time.
Brook A Shining Light In First Defense Of Title
Showtime Boxing International is a new series on Showtime promising to “Bring you fights’ from around the world, shining the spotlight on international fighters”
The spotlight couldn’t have shined any brighter on IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook (34-0 23 KO) on Saturday from the Motorpoint Arena in Sheffield, England as the hometown hero didn’t disappoint making a successful first defense of his belt by stopping Jo Jo Dan (34-3 18 KO) by TKO at the end of round four.
Dan was the IBF #1 ranked mandatory challenger but from the opening bell, Brook made him look like a lesser opponent.
Brook dominated round one by establishing his straight right hand followed by left hooks. The straight right would bekey throughout the night. Dan, a southpaw, appeared a little off balance with his orthodox counterpart. He moved forward at times but Brook’s speed kept him honest.
Dan began round two by trying to close the distance but Brook landed a straight right which wobbled Dan. Seeing that Dan was visibly shaken by the shot, Brook attacked and dropped Dan with a right uppercut. Dan was up and took a quick count. As the fight continued, Brook attacked again and dropped Dan again with a straight right. Dan is able to beat the count but is wobbly on his feet as he becomes target practice for the rest of the round but shows his mettle and makes it to the bell.
The third was a sloppy round as Dan lunged forward to try and smoother Brook, his legs visibly gone. Brook has another big round landing just about everything he throws.
Dan lands his best punch of the fight in the fourth round, a left hand, it has little effect causing Brook to unload a flurry of punches the last, a glancing blow off the top of Dan’s head which drops him again. Dan is up again and Brook attacks Dan to the bell and lands a huge left hook just as the bell sounds depositing Dan on the canvas.
Dan gets up, takes the mandatory eight count, and returns to his corner. In between rounds, Dan’s corner has seen enough and stops the fight.
A dominant performance for the new champion in his first title defense against a very tough opponent who had never been stopped.
“What a heart, I caught him with some good clean shots, he kept getting back up” said Brook
Continued Brook, “I’ve been out for a while with the leg,…… there’s much more to come from me, that was just to knock cobwebs off, I’m going to be back in June in a massive fight, I’m back.”
When asked who he would want to face next, Brook mentions “(Amir) Khan, (Juan Manuel) Marquez, and Brandon Rios” Promoter Eddie Hearn was then asked about future opponents, “There’s a little venue (Wembley Stadium) available on June 13, if Amir Khan’s watching, give everyone what they want. It’s for the biggest payday; it’s for a world title, who wants to see Brook vs. Khan?
Brook was asked if he had a message for Amir Khan, “If you’re watching, come on, get in here with me, I know you’re delicate around your whiskers, I’ll take you out”
Brook did what a champion is supposed to do to the number one threat to his title, dominate him decisively. Brook looked amazing considering he was lying in a hospital bed six months ago unsure of his future.
“I didn’t think I’d ever walk again, let alone box again, and here I am defending my world title in style, I’ve been given a second chance, the best is yet to come”
Brook’s “Special One” moniker has taken on a whole new meaning over the past seven months.
Snippets On Arguably The Hottest Topics In The Sweet Science This Week
Trilogy, The Lord of The Ring
Brandon “Bam Bam” Rios (33-2-1 24 KOs) dominated “Mile High” Mike Alvarado (34-4, 23 KOs) on Saturday night from the 1st Bank Center in Broomfield Colorado to win the WBO International Welterweight Title. Rios looked beter than he has in some time controling the fight from the opening bell stalking Alvarado and landing strong combinations to the body and head. Alvarado began the fight with a tight guard almost as if he didn’t know what to expect from the first punch. We got our anwser as he seemed stunned by the first shot he took. Round One to Rios in a landslide. In the second, Rios continued to attack and was only slowed by a low blow that made him take a knee momentarily. Alvarado was landing a shot here and there but mostly only in a defensive and desperate effort to keep Rios off of him. In between rounds two and three, you could hear Alvarado tell his corner that he was having trouble seeing.
In the third, Rios was landing hooks to the body and following them with uppercuts. The uppercut would be Rios’ weapon of choice as he dropped Alvarado with a right uppercut that was followed by a few glancing blows, but it was the uppercut that did the damage. As Alvarado got to his feet Rios continued his attack.In the corner between rounds, Alvarado was again complaining of vision problems. The ringside physician held up two fingers and asked Alvarado how many fingers he had up to which he replied “four”. The ringside physician told Jay Nady, “I showed him two fingers, he answered four, fights over”.
CompuBox numbers showed that Rios landed 120 punches out of 290 to Alvarado’s 20 out of 87. Said Rios after the fight to HBO’s Jim Lampley, “I had to come prepared because this could have been the end of my career, I have a lot of gas in my tank still and I didn’t want that”. Rios did look good and better than he has for a while. Some have questioned if it was due to a lethargic opponent, I’d say somewhere in between, not Rios at his best and definitely not the version we saw against Manny Pacquiao.
As for Alvarado, when you get arrested three weeks before your fight at 4 AM in the morning, your dedication can be questioned on many levels especially after the effort that was put forth. Said Alvarado, “It was all in the preparation, I wasn’t training like I should have been, this is what I get.” You think?
Mike is a winner, he just needs to convince himself, deal with those demons outside of the ring and show the world.
So, the trilogy that was prematurely placed on the same level as Gatti Ward, fizzled as only one combatant showed up. That fighter, now the winner of two of the three and both by stoppage, is The Lord Of The Ring.
Life Lessons
Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez (31-0 24 KOs) defeated Maxim Vlasov (30-2 15 KOs) by unanimous decision with scores of, 96-94 X2, 97-93. It was a workman like performance for the young kid. Ramirez destroyed Vlasov’s body but was unable to land a significant punch to put Vlasov in any serious trouble. As stated in Standing-8 after Ramirez’s last fight, “If there was an area for critique, it would be in Ramirez’s tendency to fight “small” at times which has left him open for counter overhand rights which his opponents have been able to land from time to time. Although he has displayed a solid beard he would benefit by tightening up his defense a bit more.” Again, Ramirez couldn’t protect from the right had as Vlasov landed them repeatedly. This kid has the goods but he better guard against those right hands because as the competition gets stronger he may not be able to absorb the punches as easily.
There were a lot of close rounds in this fight but Vlasov slowed his activity in the middle of the fight, a product of the body shots no doubt, which allowed Ramirez to capture them. Vlasov did have a few strong rounds towards the end of the fight but it was a little too late. Ramirez is one of the rising stars in boxing but showed a bit of a porous defense not adjusting to being hit with repeated rights. His jab, usually a big weapon, was underutilized. The fight was there for Vlasov but he failed to sustain his attack. A tough test for the young undefeated Ramirez. He was pushed in this fight and while his string of four straight stoppages ended, what he learned here will be more valuable than a stoppage as he moves on in his career.
We Love The Commercials
It’s not a matter of if Pacquiao and Mayweather will fight it’s a matter of when. Pacquiao says he signed the contract, Mayweather says there’s still more work to do because of the money. Maybe they’re going to announce it during a Super Bowl commercial, wouldn’t that be something? I can see it now, something out of Wayne’s World, “Game On”. In any event this site has had their hotel room booked since last August in anticipation of the May 2 date.
Junk Yard Dogs
Picture a junk yard with two starving dogs, one named Cinnamon, one Mandingo. Now picture a steak being thrown in the middle of them, add a Wolfe and things may just get interesting. Coming May 2nd, or later if “The Fight” is made which will put the junkyard battle on hold for a moment.
Snippets On Arguably The Hottest Topics In the Sweet Science (2 Week Edition)
3G Network
So Gennady Golovkin did what most thought he would do….KO Daniel Geale. Interesting to note is that he took a solid punch from Geale just as he was throwing his fight ending bomb. He took Geale’s punch better than Geale took his, game, set, match. Golovkin accepted a few solid punches in this fight and if he’d been fighting a harder punching foe, the punch he took right before he ended the fight may have had a different outcome. He needs to shore up his defense as the opponents get better. He won’t be able to walk through some of the bigger punchers he will face. What I have noticed in Triple G’s fights is that although he has a great jab, he doesn’t like to be jabbed. It seems to take him off of his game, if only for a moment as his competition thus far has not been able to sustain their effort against him. Yes, he’s good but it’s time to step up the competition.
After the fight he said he’s ready for anyone and mentioned that he wants Miguel Cotto next. Cotto, rejuvenated under Freddy Roach would be interesting, he’s relatively fast, has good power, can box and move, has a decent chin, but may be too small for this matchup. Canelo Alvarez would be an epic encounter. We would find out a lot about Golovkin in that one, Chavez Jr.? No thanks. Andre Ward??? Definitely, that’ the one I want to see. Ward has one of the best jabs in the game, can box for days, and has one of the highest IQ’s in the game. His quickness and underrated power would present challenges for Golovkin.
The Rightful Winner
It was refreshing to see the rightful winner get the decision in this weekend’s Heavyweight Eliminator. Bryant Jennings defeated Mike Perez by split decision. There was a controversial point deduction in the last round against Perez that if not called would have meant the fight was a draw. Think what you want about the point deduction, the cards shouldn’t have been that close.
Krusher Is Back
Hard hitting Sergey Kovalev is back in the ring this Saturday night from the Boardwalk in Atlantic City against Blake Caparello. Kovalev and his 88% knockout rate will look to get Caparello out of there as he does with all of his opponents. Caparello brings a few interesting dynamics to the fight such as a southpaw stance, a height and reach advantage, and more ring experience but Kovalev is on a different level right now. I don’t see the title changing hands.
A Fork In The Road
Bam Bam Brandon Rios is at a crossroads in his career. Loser of his last two fights, one against Manny Pacquiao and in a rematch against Mike Alvarado. Rios was out boxed in both losses. This Saturday night, he faces Diego Gabriel Chaves, assuming of course that Chaves’s visa issues get worked out. Chaves will come to bang as evident by his 19 KO’s in 24 fights. His only loss was to Keith “One Time” Thurman. We all know that Rios loves to scrap so this fight is right down his alley. Even after the long layoff and suspension, look for Rios to be energized by a facing a brawler and not a boxer and subsequently get back to his winning ways.
Remember The Name
Two weeks ago, Super Middleweight Gilberto Sanchez improved to 29-0 with a spectacular KO performance against Junior Talipeau. The right uppercut that caused the first knockdown was textbook and from long range. It was nice to see such a young fighter using old school technique. It was one of the best punches I have seen thrown in some time. This kid is ready for the next level.
Need A Little D
Two weeks ago, Zou Shiming 33, trained by Freddy Roach, beat a very game Luis De La Rosa. Good scrap. Shiming has a good jab, is long and lanky, quick, throws punches from sneaky angles, and has a decent chin but he’d better shore up that defense. Shiming got hit flush several times mostly because he keeps his hands so low, this will get him into trouble against better opponents. In addition, he barely went to the body. This guy has the goods so he better listen to Freddy so that he can tighten up those weaknesses.
Well At Least It Wasn’t Boring
The knock on Guillermo Rigondeaux over the past several years is that he’s not exciting. It is because he has dominated and outpointed his opponents so easily recently that he has encountered this unjust criticism. Two weeks ago, Rigondeaux knocked out Sod Looknongyantoy. Well, not without a little controversy. After a stoppage of the action due to an accidental head-butt, the referee motioned for the fight to commence, as it appeared there would be a good will touch of gloves, Rigondeaux hit Sod with a right that ended the fight. Recently, Leo Santa Cruz responded to Rigondeaux calling him out by saying, “We train 100 percent in the gym to give the fans great fights. We are ready to fight @RigoElChacal305 any time any place” Amazing fight if it is made.
Standing-8 