Abril: Rios Not a Modern Mexican, Disrespectful, Big Mouth

By Chris Robinson

In a matter of a few weeks, Cuba’s Richard Abril went from a relative unknown commodity to landing the biggest fight of his career. On April 14th, Abril, a 17-2-1 (8 KO’s) lightweight hopeful, will fill in for his countryman Yuriorkis Gamboa when he challenges former lightweight champion Brandon Rios inside of the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas on HBO pay per view.

Gamboa-Rios was looked at as one the year’s most intriguing matchups but the fight imploded due to Yuriorkis’ reluctance, as he bailed out on scheduled press conferences in Miami and Los Angeles earlier this month and was later sued by his co-promoter Top Rank for a breach of contract. Abril may have far less appeal but the 29-year old is not short on confidence, as evidenced during our conversation on Tuesday night.
 
During our fifteen minutes together on the phone, Abril touched on the importance of the Rios clash, revealed why he confronted Brandon at the Miami press conference, gave some insight into his professional career, spoke on his interim title-winning effort against Miguel Acosta last October, and also had a few parting shots for his opponent.
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Speaking through my translator Margarita ‘Maggie’ Quinonez, this is what Abril had to share…

Waiting for a long time…
“I’m very thankful to Top Rank and all the people who allowed me to get the opportunity to allow me to go for this fight. I’ve been waiting for this opportunity for a long time and I’m sure I’m not going to let this opportunity slip out of my hands. I’m been getting ready for this fight.”

Keeping a close eye on Rios…
“I’ve been following him and his career, because we are in the same weight class. I want to fight the best so I check who the best is. I pay more attention months ago when I won the belt. I believe that a good Mexican like him, that’s going to be a great fight. He’s very aggressive and he goes to win. For me, it’s a very big opportunity and I’m not going to let it go. I’m going to do what I have to do to be the winner that night.”

His victory in Panama over Miguel Acosta, who also lost to Rios last year…
“I went with the mentality of a winner. I knew if I won that I would have the opportunity to fight Brandon Rios, because Brandon Rios was the champion. I don’t want to be the interim champion; I want to be the real champion. That’s why I did everything that night, because I wanted to prove I was a real champion.”

Training in Miami, Florida…
“For me, my camp is wherever I feel comfortable and I feel very comfortable in Miami. I’m training in the gym and I feel very good there. I’m getting ready and I have the best people around me and they are helping me a lot. I’m getting ready and I’m going to be ready for the fight.”

Why he confronted Rios at the Miami press conference on March 5th…
“I just went and tried to let him know that he was supposed to fight with me, not with Gamboa. Because I was the mandatory. Rios started talking to me in English but I wanted him to talk to me in Spanish. So I said ‘Talk to me in Spanish, talk to me in Spanish’ but he kept talking to me in English. I got upset because he kept talking to me in English so I got upset and I pushed him, to let him know that I wasn’t afraid of him.”

The disrespectful nature of Brandon Rios…
“I don’t have nothing against Brandon Rios, but he is not like the modern Mexican boxer. The majority of Mexican boxers, they are respectful of other boxers, but Brandon Rios, he has a big mouth. And he’s disrespectful and he treats everybody the wrong way and I don’t like that. That’s the part I don’t like about Brandon, but personally I don’t care about him.”

Going there to win…
“Sometimes you have a plan, but the plan doesn’t work when you are in the ring. Sometimes you go with no plan and then you put things together and you can win the fight. I’ve studied [Rios] and I know what I could do in order to win with him, but I have a plan A and a plan B. In case one doesn’t work, the other one needs to work. Because I’m going there to win, I’m not going there to lose the fight."

Learning from his split-decision losses to Hank Lundy and Breidis Prescott…
“With Hank Lundy, I feel like it was a local decision and with Prescott, the same thing. What I learned from them was that you need to start and you need to finish throwing punches. You need to be the one who commands the fight; you can’t let the opponent command the fight. Because no matter how many punches you throw, if they feel like he’s doing more than you, then they’re going to give the fight to the other one. I’m not going to allow this to happen now.”

Family, money and pride…
“I’ve been in boxing since I was nine years old, so all my life I’ve been a boxer. In Cuba I was an amateur but over here it’s completely different. Now it’s professional. I want to help my family and I want to prove that I am the best. I want the money, I want the pride for my family, and I want the pride for my country.”