LAS VEGAS, NV. -- Two-division world champion TIMOTHY "Desert Storm" BRADLEY JR. and former world champion BRANDON "Bam Bam" RIOS, both who have fought in Fights of the Year in 2013 and 2012, respectively, will collide for Bradley's World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight world championship crown in an all-Southern California showdown. Bradley vs. Rios will take place on Saturday, November 7, at the Thomas & Mack Center, located on the campus of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. and will be televised live on HBO World Championship Boxing, beginning at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT. The telecast will open with two-time Ukrainian Olympic gold medalist VASYL LOMACHENKO, defending his WBO featherweight world title against Top-10 world-rated contender ROMULO KOASICHA of Mexico. Photos by Mikey Williams.
These four warriors boast a combined record of 93-8-2 (51 KOs) -- a winning percentage of 90% with over half of their victories coming by way of knockout.
Promoted by Top Rank®, in association with the Wynn Las Vegas and Tecate, tickets to the Bradley vs. Rios world welterweight championship event go on sale Tomorrow! Thursday, September 17, at 1:00 p.m. ET / 10:00 a.m. PT. Priced at $400, $250, $150, $100 and $50, tickets may be purchased at the Thomas & Mack Center Box Office, online at http://www.unlvtickets.com/, at UNLVtickets Outlet Town Square Las Vegas and La Bonita Supermarkets. To charge by phone call 702-739-FANS (3267) or 866-388-FANS (3267).
Bradley (32-1-1, 12 KOs), from Palm Springs, Calif., a two-division world champion who has held a world title every year since 2008, completed his comeback from his sole professional loss, to Fighter of the Decade Manny Pacquiao in their world title rematch and a controversial draw against former interim world champion Diego Chaves -- both in 2014 -- when he beat undefeated world champion Jessie Vargas on June 27, to reclaim the WBO welterweight world title.
A consensus Top-10 pound for pound fighter, Bradley returns to the ring in his second stint as welterweight world champion with a new trainer in Teddy Atlas. A former junior welterweight world champion who unified the junior welterweight titles twice during his previous four-year reign, Bradley moved up to the 147 pound division and beat Pacquiao on June 9, 2012 to capture the WBO welterweight crown for the first of three consecutive career-best victories. Bradley followed that by co-starring in the Fight of the Year on March 16, 2013, at StubHub Center, winning a brutal 12-round decision over future world champion Ruslan Provodnikov though Bradley was suffering from a concussion throughout most of the fight. Seven months later Bradley encored with another virtuoso performance in defeating three-division world champion and Mexican icon Juan Manuel Márquez on October 12, 2013, proving that Bradley is indeed one of boxing's elite pound for pound fighters.
Rios (33-2-1, 23 KOs), the former World Boxing Association (WBA) lightweight champion, from Oxnard, Calif., is on the hunt for his second world title in as many weight divisions. Fourteen of his last 18 victories have come by way of knockout. One of boxing’s most exciting fighters, Rios is known for his all-action fan-friendly fighting style. His trainer, former International Boxing Federation (IBF) junior lightweight champion and 2012 Trainer of the Year Robert Garcia, calls it a “throwback” style with a warrior’s mentality that screams excitement.
Highlight knockout victories on Rios’ resume include Miguel Acosta, Anthony Peterson, Urbano Antillon, John Murray and Mike Alvarado (twice). Alvarado, the natural 140-pounder, entered that fight as the undefeated WBO No. 1 junior welterweight contender. Many consider it 2012's Fight of the Year. In their exciting rematch, which took place on March 30, 2013, Rios lost a close decision for the vacant WBO interim junior welterweight title. It was considered a finalist for the 2013 Fight of the Year award.
After losing a unanimous decision to Fighter of the Decade Manny Pacquiao, on November 24, 2013, which headlined a pay-per-view event that emanated from Macau, China, Rios returned to the winner's circle on August 2, 2014, winning a gritty, foul-filled battle against former interim world welterweight champion Diego Chaves, via a ninth-round disqualification. In his last fight, on January 24, Rios stopped Alvarado in the sixth round of the rubber match of their exciting trilogy, in Alvarado's hometown of Denver to put himself back into position for a world title shot.
The greatest amateur boxer of his era and arguably of all time, two-time Ukrainian Olympic gold medalist Lomachenko (4-1, 2 KOs), of Odessa, captured the vacant WBO featherweight title on June 21, 2014, winning a scintillating majority decision over the previously unbeaten Gary Russell Jr. It was Lomachenko's third professional bout, tying him with Thailand's Saensak Muangsurin for fewest fights to win a world title. Muangsurin won a junior welterweight title in 1975, also in his third professional fight. Russell, a former U.S. Olympian, was totally blitzed by Lomachenko, battered around the ring throughout the fight. From the outset of his professional career, Lomachenko made it known that he was ready for the best in his division.
He made his professional debut in 2013 knocking out the WBO's No. 7-rated featherweight contender Jose Luis Ramirez (24-2-2, 15 KOs) in the fourth round of a bout that was scheduled for 10. Less than five months later, on March 1, 2014, in his second professional bout, he challenged WBO featherweight champion Orlando Salido, losing a split decision to the heavier defending champion whose title had been stripped because he could not make the weight limit. Since winning the world title, Lomachenko has successfully defended it twice, winning a 12-round unanimous decision on November 23, 2015, against No. 1 contender Chonlatarn Piriyapinyo (51-1, 33 KOs) and a ninth-round knockout of Gamalier Rodriguez (25-2-3, 17 KOs) on the undercard of the May 2 Floyd Mayweather - Manny Pacquiao extravaganza. Lomachenko first gained international renown by winning gold medals in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2012 London Games as a featherweight and a lightweight, respectively.
Koasicha (24-4, 14 KOs), from San Luis Potosi, Mexico, has won eight of his last 10 fights with five of those victories coming by way of knockout fight. A two-time USNBC featherweight champion, the only blemishes on his record during that span were 12-round decision losses to future world champion Lee Selby last year and Jesus Galicia in 2013. In his last bout, on July 24, Koasicha captured the vacant Mexican featherweight crown via an impressive seventh-round TKO of Guillermo “Borrego” Avila in Mexico City. Koasicha is currently world-rated No. 8 by the WBO and No. 9 by the World Boxing Council (WBC).
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