Vargas, who is sitting out the rest of the year after a clash with Golden Boy’s red-hot up and comer, Sadam Ali, fell through for December, interrupted “Desert Storm” at the post fight presser after Saturday’s victory over Brandon Rios, prompting Bradley to remark, ‘Here we go again!’
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In a report by Scott Christ of Bad Left Hook, Rios was described to be “in poor physical shape” and initially missed weight by 0.2 pounds.
Rios made the announcement of his retirement during his post-fight interview with HBO Boxing analyst Max Kellerman.
Rios was clearly not the fighter who established himself as an exciting must-see attraction at 135 pounds, but he looked revitalized in January when he stopped Mike Alvarado to put a stamp on their trilogy. “I’ve been in a lot of wars”. I thought he was a man of his word. However, I doubt that was the reason why boxing fans chose not to bother watching the Bradley-Rios fight. I think Teddy Atlas did a wonderful job. “I know I didn’t give a great show, but f*ck it, it is what it is”.
Things weren’t helped obviously by Rios’ controversial 9th round disqualification win over Diego Chaves past year on HBO, when referee Vic Drakulitch stepped in to disqualify Chaves in the 9th round for throwing an elbow that I didn’t see him throw.
Bradley had nothing but praise for Atlas (and correspondingly not-so-subtle digs for Diaz) throughout training camp for the Rios fight, and the relationship between the two got off to about as impressive a start as one could hope. “He just says, ‘Oh, I let my wife handle my business, ‘ but why did he agree to a rematch live on HBO? Never one to make excuses, he simply gave credit where credit was due”. “It is what it is”.
Last weekend’s fight between Timothy Bradley Jr. and Brandon Rios averaged 910,000 viewers for HBO, peaking at 1.03M. Think about Bradley’s fight against Jessie Vargas, for instance; for 11-plus rounds, Bradley (33-1-1, 13 KOs) dominated Vargas, only to absorb a flush right hand that almost dropped him and led to Pat Russell mistaking the 10-second clapper for the final bell.
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In all three barnburners, Rios won the first and third, both by stoppage.
