Last night in Las Vegas, Nevada welterweight Brandon Rios earned a DQ victory over Diego Gabriel Chaves of Argentina in what was a poorly refereed brawl between two sluggers. The match was stopped by the referee in the 9th as he had repeatedly warned Chaves against holding, paying off for Rios who was favored at around (-140) when the odds closed.
Rios, who was returning to the ring for the first time after his loss to Manny Pacquiao in November of last year, cannot be very impressed with his performance in this match against Chaves. Chaves was known as a power puncher, as his 19 KO s in 23 career outings testifies, but Rios was able to walk through his punches all day. The problem is that Rios was hit constantly by the Argentine, who stayed active throughout the fight and looked to be in better condition than Rios. There were times where Rios looked slow in the fight, and there were certainly times where he grew frustrated as he tried to corner Chaves and could not.
The referee took a point from Chaves in the third round from holding, then he returned the favor and took a point from Rios. The match was turning ugly, as both men were complaining in the clinches, with Chaves holding and hugging and Rios keeping his head down and butting on the way in. The referee appeared to lean more towards warning Chaves, who was ahead on two of the three judges cards by a 75-74 margin when the stoppage came.
Rios was on top of the world at the start of 2013, coming off an incredible win over Mike Alvarado. In March of 2013 he lost the re-match with Alvarad0, but still parlayed his then 31-1 record and brash talk into a superfight with Manny Pacquiao. He lost that fight as well, being outclassed by the all-world Pac-Man.
So this was thought to be his comeback. Rios’ talk before the match was about returning to his boxing roots, and at just 28 years old, looking forward. But Rios relied on his ability to take a shot and come forward, and he looked far from a top tier Welterweight in a match that was supposed to keep him in the mix in a crowded weight class.
