Brandon Rios: Kell Brook Pulled Out With Many Demands

By Steve Kim

The last time the public was Brandon Rios in the ring was on January 24th when he dismantled Mike Alvarado in three rounds. Since that point he's been on waiting and stewing on the sideline.

Rios was close to getting a crack at IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook of the UK, but the fight fell though. According to Rios, there was a mountain of demands and conditions demanded by Brook.  

He finally returns to action on November 7th against WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas in a bout that will be televised by HBO.

"It feels like I got suspended again," joked Rios, referring to his suspension for testing positive for a banned substance following his bout versus Manny Pacquiao in November of 2013.

"My second suspension was longer than my first suspension. I got six months and this one was eight months. By the time I fight it'll be ten months, two months shy from a year. So it sucks, it sucks ass. I'm a fighter, I want to fight. It's not like I don't want to fight. It was bullsh*t after bullsh*t."

There were rumblings that the 29-year-old Rios, who originally hails from Garden City, Kansas was getting frustrated with his promoter, Top Rank, but he stated - "I was just getting frustrated, period."

During his hiatus he said he spent quality time with his family but Rios admitted - "Maybe two, three months it was cool but I was getting frustrated because I seen the TV and everybody is fighting but me. Everybody is fighting, so I was getting frustrated.

A few weeks ago it seemed as though the fight with Bradley was not going to happen as negotiations broke down. Which was a bit of de ja vu for him.

"I thought the Kell Brook fight was going to happen. So I was excited about that and then all of a sudden that guy pulled out with so many demands. Then all of a sudden Bradley came back into the picture but I said,'I'm not going to get too excited,' because they can pull out anyways," said Rios, who has record of 33-2-1, 24 KO's.

Steve Kim is the news editor for BoxingScene.com.