By Francisco Salazar
LAS VEGAS, Nev. - Before Timothy Bradley and Brandon Rios entered the ring on Saturday night, what would have been difficult to accept as an outcome: Timothy Bradley scoring a knockout victory or Brandon Rios losing by knockout?
Each was shocking in its own right. Rios dropped to the canvas twice at the hands of Timothy Bradley, producing a ninth round technical knockout win before 5,106 at the Thomas & Mack Center.
The last time Rios was on the canvas twice was in January of 2006 at the hands of Joel Ortega. Rios would eventually get the knockout win later in the fight, but it says something about Rios' resiliency when he remained upright while fighting heavy-handed Manny Pacquiao and Mike Alvarado.
Then again, maybe those wars are finally catching up to Rios.
However, a lot of boxing people will point out that Rios' body was not responding due to the struggle to make weight (which has been in issue throughout his career) and the 23 pounds he rehydrated from the weigh-in Friday to fight night.
Bradley should be given credit though. His game-plan, which he and new trainer Teddy Atlas, mostly worked to perfection. Bradley was successful in landing left hooks and jabs early on in the fight, adding in a steady flow of right hands to the head midway through the fight.
When the fight looked like it was Bradley's to lose, he cemented his win with punishing body shots, which were the downfall to Rios.
Referee Tony Weeks waved the fight over at 2:49.
So where do both fighters go? For Rios, it was the matter of accepting defeat and giving Bradley his props, in his own unique way.
"They were perfect body shots," said the fighter from Oxnard, Calif. "My body wasn't responding. The better man won. It is what it is."
But it looked as though Rios was contemplating more on permanently hanging up the gloves.
"I think it's time to hang it up. I'm done. I think that's it."
As for Bradley, the impressive win over Rios quickly erased what occurred in the last 20 seconds of the Jessie Vargas fight on June 27: where Vargas hurt Bradley and was unable to follow up wen referee Pat Russell inadvertently stepped in.
The seven-week marriage between Atlas and Bradley will be intriguing to see as both continue to work with each other.
It will be hard to imagine Bradley fighting beyond another four to fight fights, and that could be asking a lot. He does have the mandatory fight with Sadam Ali coming up in the first quarter of 2016, which made sense as to why Oscar De La Hoya (Ali's promoter) was seated at ringside.
There have been preliminary talks of the winner of Bradley-Rios facing Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez, if he gets by Miguel Cotto on November 21. However, a majority of fight fans believe there are a number of fights at 147 pounds that could be made with Bradley involved.
Bradley was known to throw a lot of shade at trainer Joel Diaz, whom he had worked with for most of his career. But he is more than content to see where his career will go with Atlas by his side.
"If I was able to well seven weeks with Teddy, imagine what a year could do," said Bradley.
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In the opening bout on HBO, Vasyl Lomachenko did what many expected him to do: Dominate and eventually stop Romulo Koasicha.
Lomachenko, who successfully defended his WBO feathweweight title, was in control from the opening bell, outboxing Koasicha from the opening bell. As the bout continued into the middle rounds, Lomachenko stepped up his aggression, unloading hard hooks and crosses onto Koasicha.
The end came at 2:35 of the 10th round when Lomachenko dropped Koasicha against the ropes with a left hook to the body. Koasicha remained on one knee while referee Robert Byrd counted him out.
Lomachenko improves to 5-1, 3 KOs, while Koasicha drops to 25-5, 15 KOs.
There is no denying Lomachenko and the pedigree he has. He is as technically sound as any boxer, but would HBO air another fight of his against a fighter like Koasicha? That may be a hard sell to the boxing public, who made their feelings seen on social media during and after the fight.
Lomachenko could fight the likes of Abner Mares, Leo Santa Cruz, or a rematch against Gary Russell Jr., who holds the WBC title. Do not hold your breath as Top Rank, which promotes Lomachenko, and Al Haymon, who advises the aforementioned fighters, are in a legal dispute.
Francisco A. Salazar has written for Boxingscene.com since September of 2012 and has covered boxing in Southern Californian and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (CA) Star newspaper, RingTV, and Knockout Nation. He can be reached by email at santio89@yahoo.com or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing
