By Steve Kim
In the immediate wake of his ninth round stoppage at the hands of WBO welterweight champion Timothy Bradley on November 7th at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas, Brandon Rios announced his retirement from boxing. It was Rios third loss in his last five fights and his first career defeat by knockout.
It didn't take long before Rios (33-3-2, 24KOs), 29-years-old, quickly changed his mind and he's already begun training for his next fight. And he's doing so without his long-time trainer Robert Garcia.
"Brandon is not working out in my gym. I had a really good talk with Brandon a few weeks ago and we're brothers, he calls me, he still texts me every day and checks how I'm doing and I do the same with him. But he told me he still wants to fight a few more fights and the next few fights he wants to do it training with his father," confirmed Garcia to BoxingScene.com on Tuesday morning.
The veteran trainer says he still on very amicable terms with Rios, who was able to win a lightweight title and earn millions under the stewardship of Garcia.
"I told (Brandon),'Look, if it's your dad, go ahead and do it. I'm happy for you and your dad, he'll make a few dollars for a few fights that you'll have,' So that I have no problem with, I gave him my blessing. We still keep in touch almost everyday,"said Garcia.
Steve Kim is the news editor for BoxingScene.com.