Rios runs into another heavy roadblock
He did it again.
For the second consecutive fight, Brandon Rios failed to make the lightweight limit of 135 pounds for a world championship bout. Rios, who was looking to reclaim his WBA title that he lost on the scales Dec. 3 prior to fighting John Murray in New York, weighed in at 137 pounds Friday at Mandalay Bay Events Center for tonight’s fight against WBA interim champ Richard Abril.
Nevada Athletic Commission rules give a fighter one hour to make the prescribed weight, and Rios left the arena immediately in pursuit of dropping the 2 pounds. But when Rios returned, he weighed 139 pounds, 2 pounds heavier than his initial trip to the scale.
“This is the last time I’m doing this,” an angry Rios said as he left Mandalay Bay. “Who am I fooling? I can’t do this (expletive) anymore.”
By virtue of failing to make weight, Rios (29-0-1, 22 knockouts) is not eligible to win the WBA belt. He also will not be eligible to collect a $50,000 bonus should he win. Top Rank, which is promoting the fight, initially offered the winner of the fight an additional $50,000. Abril (17-2-1, eight KOs), who will claim the WBA world title if he wins, also stands to collect the bonus should he prevail.
Despite Rios’ failure to make weight, he remained a minus-750 betting favorite at the MGM Resorts’ sports books.
Rios’ manager, Cameron Dunkin, was extremely disappointed.
“I don’t know what happened,” Dunkin said. “He was on weight (Thursday) night. He was at 135. I asked Robert (Garcia, Rios’ trainer) what happened, and he said maybe the scale they weighed him on (Thursday) was off.”
Garcia said he didn’t have an explanation for what happened Friday.
“We thought he was there,” Garcia said. “We just couldn’t make it.”
After having problems trying to make weight for his fight against Murray, which he ultimately won with an 11th-round technical knockout, Rios thought he had the weight issue under control for this fight. He had hired Cecilio Flores, a nutritionist who got him to eat smarter. Instead of eating one big meal a day, Rios was eating three smaller meals. Rios claimed the changes had not compromised his strength, speed or conditioning.
“I don’t think I’ve ever felt better,” Rios, 25, said Tuesday. “I feel good and strong. The weight came off well.”
Apparently, not well enough. Abril’s camp, which already was irritated with Rios for his trash talking, did not appreciate his failure to make weight.
“He feels disrespected by what Rios did,” said Ricardo Rizzo, who promotes Abril. “He didn’t even try to make weight.”
Top Rank president Todd duBoef wasn’t happy, either. He had kept the fight together for Rios, who will make $450,000, after Yuriorkis Gamboa demanded more money and backed out. DuBoef had replaced Gamboa with Abril, whose purse is $100,000, and convinced HBO Pay Per View to stay with Rios, which it did.
But with Rios again unable to fight for the WBA title, the fight has lost even more luster.
“I don’t know if they read the scale upside down or what, but it doesn’t make sense,” duBoef said. “You communicate. The scale is here (at Mandalay Bay) all day. Why wouldn’t you come down and check your weight? You come down at 10 in the morning, and you see you’re 2 pounds over, and it’s ‘OK, we’ve got four hours to lose 2 pounds,’ and you take care of it.”
DuBoef said the bonus was meant for the winner of a world title fight. And since Rios can’t win the title, he can’t collect the bonus.
“Brandon didn’t live up to the terms of the contract,” duBoef said. “If you don’t fight for the title, why is there a bonus?”
Contact reporter Steve Carp at scarp@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2913. Follow him on Twitter: @stevecarprj.