Former lightweight titlist Brandon “Bam Bam” Rios (33-3-1, 24 KOs) is set to return April 29th in Chihuahua, Mexico. This will presumably be on the undercard of Ramon Alvarez versus Omar Chavez II which is in the same town on the same night. The fight is slated to be his first fight back since a late 2015 stoppage loss to Timothy Bradley. No opponent or weight yet, but it will probably be someone very low level and welterweight at the lowest.
Rios is best known for his great two fights with Mike Alvarado in 2012 and 2013. He was as his best as a lightweight where he was a titlist and could use his size to impose his will and power. A combination of filling out with age and maybe not taking the best care of his body made it impossible for him to keep making 135, however, so he moved up to junior welterweight for the Alvarado fights. He won the first fight dramatically with a somewhat questionable seventh round stoppage and then lost the second on points. Both were just tremendous fights. After the second fight, Rios moved up to welterweight to be Manny Pacquiao’s comeback fight after he suffered a KO at the hands of Juan Manuel Marquez. Rios was dominated in that fight.
Despite winning a sad trilogy fight with Alvarado against a barely there version of his former rival, Rios has not fared well at the weight. He was stopped there in his last fight by Timothy Bradley, a man who rarely stops anyone. Brandon Rios’ strengths of size, power, and pressure don’t really exist at welterweight, but given his historical weight struggles it is hard to imagine him ever getting back down to junior welterweight. Accordingly, it is hard to imagine him ever having success at high levels again.
If I am assuming correctly and this is on the Omar Chavez/Ramon Alvarez bill, it will be broadcast on Azteca in Mexico and BeIn Sports in the states.
