By Luis Sandoval

Brandon ‘Bam Bam’ Rios was forced to pull out of his scheduled July 7 fight with Mauricio Herrera due to an arm injury that sidelined him for the last two months. 

The good news is Rios has now been cleared to return to training and he’s determined to take on the biggest fights possible as he makes his move into the 140 lb. division.

Rios was on the most recent edition of BoxingScene’s official radio show The Boxing Lab and addressed the possible fights that lie ahead for him at 140 pounds. Former WBO 130 lb. champion Adrien Broner recently called out Rios for a possible fight after he defeated Vicente Escobedo on HBO. 

Rios would definitely want the fight but he feels the Top Rank and Golden Boy promotional feud would prevent that fight from materializing.

“I would love to fight Adrien Broner. Boner, Broner, whatever his name is. Sh*t I’m getting a boner just thinking about fighting this Broner guy” said a playful Rios. “It’ll be a great fight. I think the fans would enjoy this fight because he likes to bang from what I’ve seen. He’s not that much of a mover. He does [move] but he moves his upper body very well and he likes to stand right there in the middle and bang and that’s what I love to do. 

“It’ll be a great fight but at the end of the day, it will never happen because of the fact that he’s with Golden Boy and I’m with Top Rank. So I don’t think that fight will ever happen but if it does, f*** dude, the first day they tell me I’m going to fight Broner, boom, give me a pencil and paper and I’ll sign it right now. I’m ready. I’m ready right now, he’s ready, f*** it. Let’s do it.”

Of the three names Broner called out on Saturday night, Rios believes that only WBC 135 lb. champ Antonio DeMarcos has a real chance of getting the fight since he’s with promoter Gary Shaw. Golden Boy and Top Rank’s refusal to work with each other continues to prevent great fights from happening.

Rios mentioned unified champion Danny Garcia and Lucas Matthysse as fights that he’d love to get but he also understands the politics of the sport. He has done his part and informed both his promoter and manager Cameron Dunkin that he wants fights even if the fighters are with a rival promoter.

“I let them know already. Bob (Arum, Rios’ promoter) and Cameron know I want to fight those guys but it’s really up to them now. I’m ready to go to 140. Hopefully [I get Juan Manuel] Marquez but even a Mike Alvarado fight, that’d be a great fight. 

“Lucas Matthysse, that’d be another great fight but that fight is kind of hard because he’s with Golden Boy but those are the type of fights I f***ing want,” expressed Rios.

While Rios’ next opponent is yet to be determined, one thing he is sure about is that he’s done taking on lesser known fighters and wants to get in the mix with the top names.

“Right now I told Cameron I want the toughest motherf***er at 140 when I come back,” Rios emphatically stated on the show. “I’m tired of all these guys coming up trying to make a name by using my name. I want the top level guys. I want the guys that I have to beat to make my name rise above. Those are the type of guys I want.”

Though he has been cleared to return to training, Rios still plans to take an extra couple weeks to make sure his arm is fully healed to prevent the injury from reoccurring. Even while he hasn’t been able to train, he has been staying in shape by doing lower body exercises and running.

He also gave a last message to all the top guys that include Golden Boy fighters Danny Garcia, Lucas Matthysse, and Adrien Broner: If they want to fight him, talk to their promoter and he’ll talk to his and they can make it happen. To Mike Alvarado and Juan Manuel Marquez, they are with the same promoter, so all they have to do is say the word and they can get it done as well.

You can listen to Brandon Rios’ interview in its entirety by listening to The Boxing Lab podcast: http://tobtr.com/s/3420761

Luis Sandoval is the co-host of Boxingscene’s official audio show ‘The Boxing Lab,’ which airs live every Tuesday from 6PM-8PM PST. Follow Luis on Twitter: @Truewest007