By Francisco Salazar

Brandon Rios is known for his relentless pressure and crowd-pleasing style in the ring.

He is also known for having a big heart and going out of his way for worthy causes out of the ring.

That was the case on Sunday as he held a “Meet and Greet” with fans and a small group of media at Bogie’s restaurant in Westlake Village, an upscale suburb of Los Angeles.

For a fee, fans were treated to food, entertainment, fight posters, and a “goodie” bag. They also got the opportunity to interact with Rios, who was his usual outgoing self when people in attendance.

There was a silent auction on boxing memorabilia and items donated by local business. Proceeds from the event went to Momentum 4 Life and Padres Contra el Cancer (Parents against Cancer), two charity organizations Rios has been an ardent supporter of.

Anything Rios could do to raise money and awareness is something he is happy to be involved in.

“It really means a lot to me that,” Rios told Boxingscene.com during the event. “I do what I can to give back to the community and I’ve done that for many years. I’m really happy that people follow what I do outside of the ring to come out and support an event like this.”

“I’m not into this for the publicity. It comes from the heart. I like giving back to people who do a lot for me. That’s just who I am. I’m very humble.”

With Rios’ fight against Manny Pacquiao just over a month away, organizers of the event (Rios’ publicist Nancy Rodriguez and Henry Castro) wanted a smaller and intimate setting for Rios.

In regards to the fight against Pacquiao, Rios feels strong and loves camp so far. He is eager to get in the ring to prove the naysayers who favor Pacquiao wrong.

“I want the fight so far. Some people (members of the media) are making him (Pacquiao) out to be a God. It’s just motivating me a lot to prove those people wrong. They’ll see on fight night something differing in there.”

Francisco A. Salazar has written for Boxingscene.com since September of 2012 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. He also covers boxing for the Ventura County (CA) Star newspaper, Knockout Nation, and Ring Magazine. He could be reached by email at santio89@yahoo.com or on twitter at FSalazarBoxing