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Brandon Rios’ Greatest Foe is Himself

The ref had disqualified his opponent and ended the fight, but Brandon Rios still wasn’t happy. He charged into Diego Chaves’ corner intent on shouting the Argentine down with words direct and vulgar enough to survive any translation. The confusion in the ring that occurred at the hands of an overwhelmed referee when the fight was called almost erupted into an unsanctioned extra inning of boxing that most of the fans would have liked to see.
But I had already seen enough. There is no joy in watching a case of dementia pugilistica being cultivated before your eyes. I take no joy in saying that if Rios isn’t already officially a “shot” fighter, he should consider becoming one.
Newer research on concussions and brain injury points to a boxer like Rios, who never succumbs to the G-forces of punches enough to hit the canvas, as being just as at risk for long-term consequences as a fighter who suffers more dramatically. Accumulated subconcussive trauma should supplant “Bam-Bam” as Brandon Rios’ nickname.
Never blessed with the greatest set of reflexes, Rios made his buttered his bread as an action fighter willing to serve his own face on a platter in order to land more decisive blows in return. The blood and sweat spilled in his two fights with his soulmate Mike Alvarado earned comparisons to the last incredible rivalry between B-level sluggers at 140 pounds: Micky Ward and Arturo Gatti. To recall, Ward got out with his health relatively intact, while Gatti fought beyond his trainer Buddy McGirt’s suggestion to retire only to get knocked out by Alfonso Gomez. We might never know what really happened and why with Arturo Gatti, he was found dead in Brazil in 2009.
As the fight advanced into the middle rounds against Chaves, Rios couldn’t help but remind me of Gatti in his fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. Mayweather, like Chaves, lacked the one-punch power to end the fight. In the case of Gatti and Rios, you could argue no one has enough power to make them stop coming forward. Men like those are simply too insanely stubborn, too tough for their own good. Both would rather accept a death by a thousand cuts than a guillotine.
Diego Chaves was not Mayweather on Saturday night, but he was taking over the fight. In between rounds you could hear Robert Garcia in Rios’ corner command him to jab coming in and stay in the kitchen. Rios had no difficulty walking through Chaves’ fire with his head down, banging on the abdominal brains. But Chaves was resolved to making life on the inside uncomfortable. With Rios’ head constantly pushing against the Argentine’s throat, Chaves held, he rabbit-punched, he did everything he could to frustrate Rios, perhaps including a little thumb-in-the-eye action.
The fight resembled what it almost became after the DQ stoppage, a no-holds-barred street fight. Referee Vic Drakulich tried to keep order, but his measures of deducting points from both fighters for fouls and threatening disqualification only seemed to inflame Chaves’ confused brand of consternation and Rios’ self-righteous rage. Drakulich was like an overworked single parent in the ring with two petulant children, once he made the threat, he would have to follow through on it so they would know who was boss. In between their mutually inflicted fouls, Chaves and Rios politicked repeatedly for more deductions from the third man, with Rios becoming exceptionally vehement in his remonstrations in proportion to the punishment he was receiving.
Drakulich’s prominent role in the fight sucked the life out of a strong performance for Chaves, who was scoring cleaner and stronger as the fight progressed; punches that made the 28-year-old Rios show every bit of his career’s 193 rounds of wear. After the 8th round, Rios protested theatrically that the Argentine, who almost didn’t make it to Las Vegas due to visa issues, had either raked his eyes with the laces of his glove or thumbed him.
Hurt and exhausted, Rios added unnerved to his list of adjectives when Chaves performed a WWE-inspired headlock takedown of Rios into the ropes in the ninth round of the ten scheduled. Drakulich didn’t know what to make of it either, when Rios finally got back to his feet he simply ordered them to keep boxing, but it had to influence the questionable disqualification that came moments after. The fighters clinched yet again, when Rios began appealing to Drakulich and everyone watching, that Chaves was a motherf*cker who was going after his eyes.
At the moment, with Rios seething in rage and completely unable to harness it in his boxing, Drakulich panicked and inexplicably waved the fight off, succumbing to the American with a bigger name. Knowing what we know now as sport fans about the symptoms of brain injury, it was impossible not to go to dark places wondering about Rios’ mental state as he exploded in the fight’s final moments.
Pro athletes can be quite adept at hiding dirty play from the cameras, so the fact that we have yet to see video evidence of Chaves doing anything to Rios’ eyes needs to be taken with a grain of salt. Coupled with the other fact, however, that we never saw any signs that Rios’ eyes had been hurt (redness, cuts, watering, etc.) leads us to the possibility that Rios had the feeling he was getting beat and had to do something about it. Unfortunately in this case, that something invoked the politics of the ring to intervene on his behalf.
Compared to other brawlers with rugged ring mileage, Rios has fared far better than most fighters economically. His two fights with Alvarado and his sacrificial lamb showing against Manny Pacquiao have made him millions of dollars. Even if he suffers ill effects from his career, he’ll still be one of the lucky ones. Though I imagine he’ll be as amazingly stubborn with his career as he is while boxing, Brandon Rios needs to face the music: he’ll never be a top 140-pounder, even if he suffers 140 poundings. Sure, Arturo Gatti beat long odds to be inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame, but he wasn’t alive to enjoy it.
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Bombs Away in Las Vegas where Inoue and Espinoza Scored Smashing Triumphs

Japan’s Naoya “Monster” Inoue banged it out with Mexico’s Ramon Cardenas, survived an early knockdown and pounded out a stoppage win to retain the undisputed super bantamweight world championship on Sunday.
Japan and Mexico delivered for boxing fans again after American stars failed in back-to-back days.
“By watching tonight’s fight, everyone is well aware that I like to brawl,” Inoue said.
Inoue (30-0, 27 KOs), and Cardenas (26-2, 14 KOs) and his wicked left hook, showed the world and 8,474 fans at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas that prizefighting is about punching, not running.
After massive exposure for three days of fights that began in New York City, then moved to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and then to Nevada, it was the casino capital of the world that delivered what most boxing fans appreciate- pure unadulterated action fights.
Monster Inoue immediately went to work as soon as the opening bell rang with a consistent attack on Cardenas, who very few people knew anything about.
One thing promised by Cardenas’ trainer Joel Diaz was that his fighter “can crack.”
Cardenas proved his trainer’s words truthful when he caught Inoue after a short violent exchange with a short left hook and down went the Japanese champion on his back. The crowd was shocked to its toes.
“I was very surprised,” said Inoue about getting dropped. ““In the first round, I felt I had good distance. It got loose in the second round. From then on, I made sure to not take that punch again.”
Inoue had no trouble getting up, but he did have trouble avoiding some of Cardenas massive blows delivered with evil intentions. Though Inoue did not go down again, a look of total astonishment blanketed his face.
A real fight was happening.
Cardenas, who resembles actor Andy Garcia, was never overly aggressive but kept that left hook of his cocked and ready to launch whenever he saw the moment. There were many moments against the hyper-aggressive Inoue.
Both fighters pack power and both looked to find the right moment. But after Inoue was knocked down by the left hook counter, he discovered a way to eliminate that weapon from Cardenas. Still, the Texas-based fighter had a strong right too.
In the sixth round Inoue opened up with one of his lightning combinations responsible for 10 consecutive knockout wins. Cardenas backed against the ropes and Inoue blasted away with blow after blow. Then suddenly, Cardenas turned Inoue around and had him on the ropes as the Mexican fighter unloaded nasty combinations to the body and head. Fans roared their approval.
“I dreamed about fighting in front of thousands of people in Las Vegas,” said Cardenas. “So, I came to give everything.”
Inoue looked a little surprised and had a slight Mona Lisa grin across his face. In the seventh round, the Japanese four-division world champion seemed ready to attack again full force and launched into the round guns blazing. Cardenas tried to catch Inoue again with counter left hooks but Inoue’s combos rained like deadly hail. Four consecutive rights by Inoue blasted Cardenas almost through the ropes. The referee Tom Taylor ruled it a knockdown. Cardenas beat the count and survived the round.
In the eighth round Inoue looked eager to attack and at the bell launched across the ring and unloaded more blows on Cardenas. A barrage of 14 unanswered blows forced the referee to stop the fight at 45 seconds of round eight for a technical knockout win.
“I knew he was tough,” said Inoue. “Boxing is not that easy.”
Espinoza Wins
WBO featherweight titlist Rafael Espinosa (27-0, 23 KOs) uppercut his way to a knockout win over Edward Vazquez (17-3, 4 KOs) in the seventh round.
“I wanted to fight a game fighter to show what I am capable,” said Espinoza.
Espinosa used the leverage of his six-foot, one-inch height to slice uppercuts under the guard of Vazquez. And when the tall Mexican from Guadalajara targeted the body, it was then that the Texas fighter began to wilt. But he never surrendered.
Though he connected against Espinoza in every round, he was not able to slow down the taller fighter and that allowed the Mexican fighter to unleash a 10-punch barrage including four consecutive uppercuts. The referee stopped the fight at 1:47 of the seventh round.
It was Espinoza’s third title defense.
Photo credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank
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Undercard Results and Recaps from the Inoue-Cardenas Show in Las Vegas

The curtain was drawn on a busy boxing weekend tonight at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas where the featured attraction was Japanese superstar Naoya Inoue appearing in his twenty-fifth world title fight.
The top two fights (Inoue vs. Roman Cardenas for the unified 122-pound crown and Rafael Espinoza vs. Edward Vazquez for the WBO world featherweight diadem) aired on the main ESPN platform with the preliminaries streaming on ESPN+.
The finale of the preliminaries was a 10-rounder between welterweights Rohan Polanco and Fabian Maidana. A 2020/21 Olympian for the Dominican Republic, Polanco was a solid favorite and showed why by pitching a shutout, punctuating his triumph by knocking Maidana to his knees late in the final round with a hard punch to the pit of the stomach.
Polanco improved to 16-0 (10). Argentina’s Maidana, the younger brother of former world title-holder Marcos Maidana, fell to 24-4 while maintaining his distinction of never being stopped.
Emiliano Vargas, a rising force in the 140-pound division with the potential to become a crossover star, advanced to 14-0 (12 KOs) with a second-round stoppage Juan Leon. Vargas, who turned 21 last month, is the son of former U.S. Olympian Fernando Vargas who had big money fights with the likes of Felix Trinidad and Oscar De La Hoya. Emiliano knocked Leon down hard twice in round two – both the result of right-left combinations — before Robert Hoyle waived it off.
A 28-year-old Spaniard, Leon was 11-2-1 heading in.
In his U.S. debut, 29-year-old Japanese southpaw Mikito Nakano (13-0, 12 KOs) turned in an Inoue-like performance with a fourth-round stoppage of Puerto Rico’s Pedro Medina. Nakano, a featherweight, had Medina on the canvas five times before referee Harvey Dock waived it off at the 1:58 mark of round four. The shell-shocked Medina (16-2) came into the contest riding a 15-fight winning streak.
Lynwood, California junior middleweight Art Barrera Jr, a 19-year-old protégé of Robert Garcia, scored a sixth-round stoppage of Chicago’s Juan Carlos Guerra. There were no knockdowns, but the bout had turned sharply in Barrera’s favor when referee Thomas Taylor intervened. The official time was 1:15 of round six.
Barrera improved to 9-0 (7 KOs). The spunky but outclassed Guerra, who upset Nico Ali Walsh in his previous outing, declined to 6-2-1.
In the lid-lifter, a 10-round featherweight affair, Muskegon Michigan’s Ra’eese Aleem improved to 22-1 (12) with a unanimous decision over LA’s hard-trying Rudy Garcia (13-2-1). The judges had it 99-01, 98-92, and 97-93.
Aleem, 34, was making his second start since June of 2023 when he lost a split decision in Australia to Sam Goodman with a date with Naoya Inoue hanging in the balance.
Check back shortly for David Avila’s recaps of the two world title fights.
Photo credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank
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Canelo Alvarez Upends Dancing Machine William Scull in Saudi Arabia

Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, who has acquired a new nickname – “The Face of Boxing” – is accustomed to fighting on Cinco De Mayo weekend, but this year was different. For the first time, Canelo was fighting outside the continent of North America and entering the ring at an awkward hour. His match with William Scull started at 6:30 on a Sunday morning in Riyadh.
In the opposite corner was 32-year-old William Scull, an undefeated (23-0) Cuban by way of Germany, whose performance was better suited to “Dancing With the Stars” than to a world title fight. Constantly bouncing from side to side but rarely letting his hands go, Scull frustrated Canelo who found it near-impossible to corner him, but one can’t win a fight solely on defense and the Mexican superstar was returned the rightful winner in a bout that was a fitting cap to a desultory two days of Saudi-promoted prizefighting. The scores were 115-113, 116-112, and 119-109. In winning, Canelo became a fully unified super middleweight champion twice over.
Terence Crawford was in attendance and HE Turki Alalshikh made it official: Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) and Canelo (63-2-2, 39 KOs) will meet in the Fight of the Century (Alalshikh’s words) on Sept. 12 in Las Vegas at the home of the city’s NFL team, the Raiders. For whatever it’s worth, each of Canelo’s last seven fights has gone the full 12 rounds.
Semi-wind-up
In a match between the WBC world cruiserweight title-holder and the WBC world cruiserweight “champion in recess” (don’t ask), the former, Badou Jack, brought some clarity to the diadem by winning a narrow decision over Noel Mikaelian. One of the judges had it a draw (114-114), but the others gave the fight to “Jack the Ripper” by 115-113 scores.
A devout Muslim who is now a full-time resident of Saudi Arabia, the Sweden-born Jack, a three-division title-holder, had the crowd in his corner. Now 41 years old, he advanced his record to 29-3-3 (17). It was the first pro loss for Mikaelian (27-1), a Florida-based Armenian who was subbing for Ryan Rozicki.
The distracted CompuBox operator credited Mikaelian with throwing 300 more punches but there was no controversy.
Tijuana’s Jaime Munguia, a former junior middleweight title-holder, avenged his shocking loss to Bruno Sarace with a unanimous 12-round decision in their rematch. This was Munguia’s first fight with Eddy Reynoso in his corner. The scores were 117-111 and 116-112 twice.
Surace’s one-punch knockout of Munguia in mid-December in Tijuana was the runaway pick for the 2024 Upset of the Year. Heading in, Munguia was 44-1 with his lone defeat coming at the hands of Canelo Alvarez. Munguia had won every round against Surace before the roof fell in on him.
Surace won a few rounds tonight, but Munguia was the busier fighter and landed the cleaner shots. It was the first pro loss for Surace (26-1-2) and ended his 23-fight winning streak. The Frenchman hails for Marseilles.
Heavyweights
In a 10-round heavyweight match fought at a glacial pace, Martin Bakole (21-2-1) and Efe Ajagba (20-1-1) fought to a draw. One of the judges favored Ajagba 96-94 but he was outvoted by his cohorts who each had it 95-95.
Bakole, a 7/2 favorite, came in at 299 pounds, 15 more than he carried in his signature win over Jared Anderson, and looked sluggish. He was never able to effectively close off the ring against the elusive Ajagba who fought off his back foot and failed to build on his early lead.
The fight between the Scotch-Congolese campaigner Bakole and his Nigerian-American foe was informally contested for the heavyweight championship of Africa. That “title” remains vacant.
In a 6-rounder, heavy-handed Cuban light heavyweight Brayon Leon, a stablemate of Canelo Alvarez, was extended the distance for the first time while advancing his record to 7-0 at the expense of Mexico’s Aaron Roche (11-4-1). Leon knocked Roche to the canvas in the fourth round with a right-left combination, but the Mexican stayed the course while eating a lot of hard punches.
Photo credit: Leigh Dawney / Queensberry Promotions
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