By Ryan Burton
Mandalay Bay Events Center, Las Vegas, Nevada - Ronny Rios (25-1) picked up the biggest win of his career when he handed Jayson Velez (23-1-1) his first lost on Saturday night on the Miguel Cotto-Canelo Alvarez pay-per-view undercard.
Rios had been out of the ring since March and felt the layoff contributed to his slow start.
"I wanted to put more pressure on but I think it had something to with the ring rust. I was out for 8 months but you know, Jayson Velez is really good. He was better than I expected," said Rios.
The 25-year-old Mexican American said that he was happy to be part of the Mexico-Puerto Rico rivalry but that his focus was on just winning his fight.
"I was kind of excited about the whole Mexico versus Puerto Rico but for me it was just fighter versus fighter. I was there for Mexico but I wanted to prove to myself that I was the better fighter," Rios stated.
With the victory Rios captured the WBC silver featherweight title. He said that he doesn't care who he fights next but hinted that he is interested in facing the full champion Gary Russell Jr.
"I have never picked my opponents. I have always fought the best so it doesn't really matter to me. I have never picked and choose but yeah I am interested in the WBC title," Rios told BoxingScene.com.
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