Brandon Rios

Brandon Rios
Brandon Rios
Data
Birth Name	Brandon Lee Rios
Fight name	Bam Bam
Weight class	Welterweight
nationality	US-american
birthday	April 29, 1986
place of birth	Lubbock
style	Left delivery
size	1.73 m
Combat Statistics
Struggles	41
Victories	35
Knockout victories	26th
Defeats	5
draw	1

Brandon Lee Ríos (born April 29, 1986 in Lubbock , Texas ) is an American professional boxer and former world champion of the WBA lightweight.

Biography and amateur career

Brandon Ríos was born to a butcher and housewife in Lubbock, Texas, but grew up in Garden City , Kansas . He has three sisters and an older brother who also boxed. Brandon started boxing at the age of eight and grew to become one of the best amateur fighters in America.

After winning gold medals at the National Silver Gloves Tournament and the Ringside National Tournament , he won the 2004 U.S. Championships in Colorado Springs . He was then invited to the national Olympic qualification for the 2004 Summer Games , which were held as US Olympic Trials in Tunica . With four wins and one defeat he won the challenger class , but was defeated in the subsequent decisive battle in Cleveland against Mickey Bey , the winner of the master class in tunica.

He has been married to Vicky Lopez since 2010.

Professional career

At the age of 18 he moved to Oxnard , California to pursue a career as a professional boxer. He was signed to Top Rank Boxing by promoter Bob Arum . His coach is the former boxing world champion Roberto García, who has already worked with world champions such as Miguel Ángel García , Nonito Donaire , Kelly Pavlik , Antonio Margarito and Marcos René Maidana .

He won his professional debut on July 23, 2004 in Oxnard by knockout in the third round against Raul Montes. In its subsequent build-up phase , he won 23 more fights, 16 of them prematurely. 17 opponents showed a positive match record. Among them was the two-time World Cup challenger Ricardo Dominguez (record: 24-3).

On February 6, 2010, he won the NABF North American lightweight championship in Texas . He defeated the New York Jorge Teron (23-1) early in the third round. Seven months later he won a World Championship elimination against Anthony Peterson (30-0), brother of world champion Lamont Peterson . Ríos had his opponent on the ground in the fifth round, which was the first rainfall in Peterson's boxing career. After points clearly behind, Peterson was finally disqualified after several low blows and two point deductions in the seventh round.

On February 26, 2011 he finally won the WBA lightweight world championship in Las Vegas with a tKo victory in the tenth round against Miguel Acosta (28-3) from Venezuela. Acosta, who was ranked second in the world by Ring Magazine , went down in rounds 6 and 8 and was finally taken out of the fight after another heavy knockdown.

He won his first title defense on July 9, 2011 in California by knockout in the third round against Urbano Antillón (28-2), who was listed by Ring Magazine in the top 10. Ríos got two knockdowns in the third round before Antillón was taken out of the fight by the referee in the same round, staggering and unable to defend.

On December 3, 2011, he met British European Champion John Murray (31-1) in New York's Madison Square Garden . Since Ríos had exceeded the weight limit, the world title was withdrawn from him before the fight, which is why it was only for Murray for the world title. However, Ríos was able to prevail and defeat the British in the eleventh round by tKo after the referee had taken the ailing Murray out of the fight.

Another win against a Top 10 fighter of Ring Magazine he succeeded on April 14, 2012 in Las Vegas, when he won against the Cuban WBA interim world champion Richard Abril (17-2) on points. The fight was quite even and ended not entirely undisputed. Several judges from trade magazines and boxing broadcasters had the Cuban in front, as did one of the three official judges. Since Ríos had also exceeded the weight limit again, he was fined and the Cuban was allowed to keep his title. Ríos then moved to the next higher light welterweight division.

In this weight class he achieved a significant success on October 13, 2012 in California, when he defeated the also undefeated Mike Alvarado (33-0, 23 knockout) after a fast-paced and powerful fight . Alvarado was badly drawn and unable to defend himself by the referee in the seventh round from the fight. By then, two judges had seen the match drawn while the third, Ríos, was just ahead.

Unbeaten in 31 fights so far, there was a rematch with Mike Alvarado on March 30, 2013 in Las Vegas. The again very spectacular fight ended this time with a points victory for Alvarado, who suffered swelling and cut injuries in both eyes. Alvarado had to accept the heaviest hits in the opening rounds and was close to a knockdown twice, but was able to convince in the second half of the fight with increased activity and good hits.

Ríos demanded a third fight with Alvarado in the ring, but this did not materialize for the time being. Instead, a welterweight bout against Manny Pacquiao (54-5) was agreed, which took place on November 24, 2013 in Macau . Ríos had little to oppose the high agility and speed of the Filipino and finally had to accept a high point defeat.

After these two defeats, he did not get back into the ring until August 2, 2014 in Las Vegas and won by disqualification against the Argentinian Diego Gabriel Chaves (23-1). The fight was marked by unsportsmanlike behavior, which is why the referee took Chaves out of the fight in the ninth round after a brace attack.

On January 24, 2015, he fought Mike Alvarado (34-3) for the third time and won in Colorado early in the third round. He became the international champion of the WBO welterweight. On November 7, 2015, he lost in Las Vegas in the ninth round against Timothy Bradley (32-1). The fight was about the WBO world welterweight title.

After a year and a half break from the ring, he only got back into the ring in June 2017 and defeated Aaron Herrera (32-6) by knockout in the seventh round. However , he lost against Danny García (33-1) on February 17, 2018 himself prematurely in the ninth round. In February 2019, he also lost unanimously to Humberto Soto (68-9).

predecessor	Office	successor
Miguel Acosta	World lightweight boxing champion ( WBA ) February 26, 2011 - December 2, 2011	Richard Abril

Web links

• BoxRec profile
• TopRank profile