By Luis Sandoval
Talks have been circulating about a possible mega fight between WBA Lightweight champion “Bam Bam” Brandon Rios and Cuban sensation Yuriokis Gamboa for early next year. Rios was on the most recent edition of BoxingScene.com’s official audio show The Boxing Lab and spoke about the possibility of facing the undefeated Cuban featherweight.
Gamboa would be moving up 2 weight classes from 126lbs to 135lbs in order to make the fight happen. Rios was asked if he was surprised Gamboa was willing to leapfrog a division.
“Yeah, I was very excited. I’m like surprised. I’m like ‘wow, this guy is not even going to try and fight at 130. He’s going to go from 126 to 135’” said Rios. “He’s the one calling me out so I was like great. Let’s do it. That’s what I told Cameron [Dunkin]. Let’s do it man. Let’s do it right away. Let’s give him his wish and let’s fight”.
Olympic gold medalist Gamboa is known for his lighting fast speed. Some will say Rios has never been in the ring with a guy as fast as Gamboa but Rios believes Gamboa hasn’t been in the ring with a fighter like him. When asked how he would deal with Gamboa’s speed, Rios went off.
“You know what? People have said this and that about me. They should say [Gamboa] hasn’t faced a guy like Brandon Rios. Someone who’s going to put pressure and pressure and pressure and has power in both hands and that doesn’t give up and can take a shot and smile at [you] when he gets hit” said the undefeated champion.
“How is he going to handle my pressure? Cause he’s coming into my class. He’s coming to my division. This is my title. This is my world at 135. I run it. Only reason I’m number two is because [Juan Manuel] Marquez hasn’t faced me yet. But other than that, I run 135. So how is he going to handle it?”
Rios ,who was already making plans to move up to the 140lb division after his fight against John Murray on the undercard of Cotto-Margarito, said he will hold off moving if it means getting a fight with Gamboa. First Rios needs to take care of business on December 3rd when he makes his 2nd title defense as he fights for the first time in New York.
You can follow Luis Sandoval on Twitter @truewest007. You can also tune in to BoxingScene’s official audio show The Boxing Lab every Tuesday from 6-8PM PST with hosts Ernest Gabion, Luis Sandoval, and Ryan Burton.
