Brandon Ríos

Brandon Ríos
Ríos in 2011
Statistics
Real name	Brandon Lee Ríos
Nickname(s)	Bam Bam
Rated at	Lightweight Light welterweight Welterweight
Height	5 ft 8 in (173 cm)
Reach	70 in (178 cm)
Nationality	American
Born	April 29, 1986 Lubbock, Texas, U.S.
Stance	Orthodox
Boxing record
Total fights	37
Wins	33
Wins by KO	24
Losses	3
Draws	1
Medal record Men's amateur boxing US National Championships 2004 Colorado Springs Featherweight

Brandon Lee Ríos (born April 29, 1986) is an American professional boxer who fights in the welterweight division. He is a former WBA lightweight champion and was previously trained by former super featherweight world champion Robert García.^[1] Known for his come forward, aggressive style that couples brawling and swarming, Rios has an iron chin and good punching power.

Amateur career

Ríos compiled a stellar amateur record of 230–35. In 2004 he became the U.S. National Amateur Featherweight champion, and was also a United States Olympic alternate at 125 lbs.^[2] "When I met Roberto in the Olympic trials in Mississippi, that’s when Roberto came and worked my corner, which it was a bad mistake," Rios said as García laughed. "I should have never done that because my dad was my amateur coach through my whole career. You get used to one person and then you come with another guy and he doesn’t really know you? To me, it kind of messed me up. But then again, I’m glad we met because we exchanged information and he brought me down here."^[3]

Professional career

Ríos (right) with two-time champion Antonio Margarito (left).

He is signed to Bob Arum's company Top Rank.^[4] On October 17, 2009^[5] Ríos got a T.K.O. victory in the 7th round over Manuel Perez.^[6]

He next fought in a WBA title eliminator against the undefeated contender Anthony Peterson, on a HBO Boxing After Dark card.^[7] Rios dropped Peterson to the canvas with a left hand at the end of the fifth round.^[8] In the sixth round, a desperate Peterson landed several low blows on Ríos, losing two points in the process.^[9] In the seventh round, Peterson landed low blows once again, prompting the referee to stop the bout and award Ríos a disqualification victory.^[10] Brandon was leading on all three scorecards before the stoppage.^[7] His next fight was the first HBO PPV fight on the undercard of Margarito vs. Pacquiao. Bob Arum stated that if Rios beat Omri Lowther in Cowboys Stadium, Brandon would get a shot to fight against WBC Lightweight Champion Humberto Soto next. Ríos won by T.K.O. in the fifth round.^[11]

WBA Lightweight Championship

On February 26, 2011, Ríos defeated WBA World Lightweight Champion, Venezuelan Miguel Acosta via a 10th round TKO, becoming the new WBA regular Lightweight champion.^[12]

Ríos vs. Antillon

In his first title defense Brandon faced title contender Urbano Antillón, this matchup was scheduled to take place once before in May 2010.^[13][14] This bout was the second time Ríos headlined a Showtime Championship Boxing card and was held at the Home Depot Center, in Carson, California.^[15]

Light Welterweight

Ríos vs. Alvarado I & II

Rios faced Mike Alvarado at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California on October 13. Rios was behind on the scorecards until the 6th round where in he hurt Alvarado with a crushing right. Rios was able to stop Alvarado in the 7th as referee Pat Russell stopped the bout at 1:57 of the round.^[16] The fight was voted the 2012 Fight of the Year by the Sports Illustrated.^[17]

A much anticipated rematch was held on March 30, 2013 at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, Nevada. Like the first fight, both came in with a lot of fireworks as they continued to go toe to toe, until Alvarado changed strategy and became a lot more evasive and hard to hit with fancy footwork. Alvarado defeated Rios by unanimous decision with scores of 115–113, 115–113 and 114–113. Top Rank promoter Bob Arum dismissed another rematch and suggested to let the two boxers face other fighters first.^[18]

Welterweight

Rios vs. Pacquiao

Rios and Pacquiao battled for the vacant WBO International Welterweight title on November 23, 2013, at The Venetian Macao resort & hotel in Macau of the Special administrative regions in China against Ring No. 4 ranked Welterweight, Ring No. 7 ranked pound for pound and former WBO Welterweight Champion Manny Pacquiao. Rios was guaranteed a purse of $3 million for this fight which is the highest of his boxing career. On August 5, Ríos and Pacquiao hit the road on a U.S. tour promoting the fight. Pacquiao won the 12 round match and the WBO International Welterweight title very easily.^[19][20] After the fight, Ríos tested positive for methylhexaneamine.^[21]

Ríos vs. Alvarado III

Following a DQ win over Argentine Diego Chaves, a third fight was announced against old rival, Mike Alvarado. On Jan 24th, in Alvarado's home town of Denver, Colorado, Rios punished Alvarado for 3 rounds before the referee stopped the fight prior to the start of the fourth.^[22]

Ríos vs. Bradley

In what would ultimately turn out to be his last fight, Rios battled Timothy Bradley for the WBO Welterweight title on November 7, 2015 at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. He was unsuccessful in doing so, losing every round of the fight in the process before referee Tony Weeks called an end to the bout at 2:48 of the ninth round, marking the first (and, as it stands only) time Ríos had ever been stopped in his professional career.

During the emotional post-fight interview, Rios announced his retirement, stating that although he loved the sport, his body was no longer acting the same and the weight fluctuation and layoff was effecting his performances and he would now like to spend more time with his family and close friends.

Professional boxing record

Personal life

Brandon married Victoria López in August 2010 and has four children, two from a previous relationship.^[23][24] Ríos gave the names Laila and Mia to his two daughters, after boxers Mia St. John and Laila Ali. His sons are named Marco Antonio, after Mexican World Champion Marco Antonio Barrera and Brandon Jr.^[25]

Victor Ortiz feud

As amateur boxers both Brandon Ríos and Victor Ortíz fought out of the same boxing gym in Oxnard, California, the Garden City Boxing Club where they were both trained by Manuel Rios.^[26][27] For a short time Brandon's father trained Ortíz when they both still lived in Kansas. Ortíz would later move to Oxnard to train under Roberto García, Rios also left Kansas after being invited by García to train in Oxnard.^[28] In 2009 after an incident involving Brandon, Victor Ortíz and Victor's younger brother, Temo Ortíz, their relationship became strained.^[29] A fight between Ríos and Ortiz has been proposed at a catch weight of 138 lbs or even at 140 lbs, with Ríos stating on numerous occasions that he's gotten the better of Ortiz many times during sparring when they were growing up.^[30]

Freddie Roach incident

In the much anticipated lead up to the fight at Cowboys Stadium, Ríos made headlines along with Antonio Margarito and Roberto García when Elie Seckbach interviewed the three of them and showed the group mocking Manny Pacquiao's trainer Freddie Roach, Roach has Parkinson's disease. Elie Seckbach made a video response defending Rios and Margarito, and stated that the media misunderstood their jesters. Seckbach stated that they were actually making funny of Freddie Roach's comments where Roach said that Margarito was going to get knocked out. García explained that Ríos was "joking around", and that Brandon was also unaware that Roach is suffering from Parkinson's disease.^[31] In the video, Ríos explains that it was a response to Freddie Roach's trash talking.

See also

• List of current world boxing champions
• List of lightweight boxing champions
• List of WBA world champions
• List of current NABF Champions

References

1. Fischer, Doug (March 13, 2009). "New Faces: Brandon Ríos". The Ring Magazine. Retrieved July 2, 2010.
2. Luevanos, Fernando (October 4, 2008). "Brandon Ríos Biography". Boxrec. Retrieved July 2, 2010.
3. Montoya, Gabriel (July 5, 2011). "What Drives Brandon Ríos". MaxBoxing. Retrieved July 7, 2011.
4. Mulei, Alessandro (August 26, 2009). "Brandon Ríos with Top Rank". Top Rank. Retrieved July 2, 2010.
5. Ready to rumble » Corpus Christi Caller-Times. Caller.com. 2009-09-23.
6. Brandon Rios Stops Manuel Perez in Seven Rounds – Boxing News. Boxingscene.com (2009-10-18). Retrieved on 2013-11-25.
7. Reeno, Rick (2010-06-15) Peterson vs Rios as Co-Feature To Gamboa-Salido on HBO – Boxing News. Boxingscene.com. Retrieved on 2013-11-25.
8. Iole, Kevin. (2010-09-12) Scintillating Rios overshadows Gamboa – Yahoo Sports. Sports.yahoo.com. Retrieved on 2013-11-25.
9. Donovan, Jake (2010-09-12) Yuriorkis Gamboa Unifies, Continues The Hunt For Juanma – Boxing News. Boxingscene.com. Retrieved on 2013-11-25.
11. News – "Bam Bam" Comes Out of the Bullpen. Max Boxing (2010-11-10). Retrieved on 2013-11-25.
12. Oxnard's Rios will fight for world title » Ventura County Star. Vcstar.com. 2010-12-20.
13. Brandon Rios: Core Workout, Preparing For Antillon. Esnewsreporting.com (2011-05-12). Retrieved on 2013-11-25.
14. Fischer, Doug. (2011-07-07) Rios vs. Antillon: Head-to-head analysis | RingTV. Ringtv.craveonline.com. Retrieved on 2013-11-25.
15. Iole, Kevin. (2011-07-08) Rios welcomes Antillon's challenge – Yahoo Sports. Sports.yahoo.com. Retrieved on 2013-11-25.
16. Rios TKO 7 Alvarado. Boxingnews24.com (2012-10-13). Retrieved on 2013-11-25.
17. "Fight of the Year – Brandon Rios defeats Mike Alvarado – 2012 Boxing Awards". SI.com. December 26, 2012. Retrieved January 3, 2013.
18. Men o’ War: Alvarado Decisions Rios. Boxing.com (2013-03-30). Retrieved on 2013-11-25.
19. "Manny Pacquiao V. Brandon Rios U.S. Promotional Tour Begins Today".
20. "Manny Pacquiao wins in return". ESPN. 24 November 2013. Retrieved 25 November 2013.
21. "Brandon Rios failed postfight test cite web". ESPN. 13 December 2013. Retrieved 23 February 2015.
22. http://espn.go.com/boxing/story/_/id/11970707/brandon-rios-mike-alvarado-iii-set-jan-24-denver
23. SecondsOut Boxing News – USA Boxing News – Brandon Rios Celebrates Honeymoon in Vegas. Secondsout.com (2010-09-11). Retrieved on 2013-11-25.
24. Vicky Lopez- Rios- Boxer Brandon Rios' Wife (bio, wiki, photos). Fabwags.com (2013-05-07). Retrieved on 2013-11-25.
26. Brandon Rios Wants Victor Ortiz. Bleacher Report (2010-10-20). Retrieved on 2013-11-25.
27. Kim, Steve (September 14, 2010) Boxing Flurries on Zab Judah, Brandon Rios, Yuriorkis Gamboa, Matt Remillard and More. Doghouseboxing.com. Retrieved on 2013-11-25.
28. Seckbach, Elie (October 5, 2010) Brandon Rios on His Beef With Victor Ortiz at the Wayback Machine (archived January 17, 2011). boxing.fanhouse.com
29. Gabin, Ernest (2010-12-17) Robert Garcia Sets the Record Straight on Victor Ortiz – Boxing News. Boxingscene.com. Retrieved on 2013-11-25.
30. Brandon Rios: Victor Ortiz is a Motherf**king Crybaby! – Boxing News. Boxingscene.com (2010-10-04). Retrieved on 2013-11-25.
31. Satterfield, Lem (2010-11-10) Roach Wanted To Fight Over Video: 'I Hate Margarito, Rios' – Boxing News. Boxingscene.com. Retrieved on 2013-11-25.

External links

• Official website
• Professional boxing record for Brandon Ríos from BoxRec