By Reynaldo Sanchez
Cuba's interim-WBA lightweight world champion, Richard "The Tiger" Abril (17-2-1, 8 KO's) is very confident that he will defeat his next opponent, former beltholder Brandon “Bam Bam” Rios, on April 14th for the vacant WBA world title at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.
"I’m focused and very well trained for this fight. I've been in training long before this fight was discussed. Earlier they were mentioning such names as Jorge Linares and even my countryman Yuriorkis Gamboa as possible opponents for the last two months, so my training camp with my coah Osmiri Fernandez has been very good," Abril said. "[In this fight] I’m going to show my fans that I am really brave and that I have a lot of balls. Brandon Rios will have a lot of trouble with an opponent like myself."
Osmiri Fernandez, Richard Abril's trainer said - "We are going to win this fight. Richard has been in training for a while. Brandon must step on the scale at exactly 135-pounds on the day of the weigh-in. A skillful fighter like Abril will be sufficient enough to defeat Brandon Rios by knockout or unanimous decision."
Promoter Carlos Rodriguez, of Dream Team Boxing Promotions, said - "This is the exact fight that we were looking for. Richard has everything in his favor to get a victory and we believe that is what's going to happen. We know about the quality and courage of Brandon, but also we know that Richard is a better boxer that Rios will experience that for himself on fight night.”