It’s now been almost 6 months since we last saw former WBA 135lb champion Brandon Rios in a ring – forcing a 3rd round retirement from Mike Alvarado in a disappointing end to their all-action trilogy – a fight it’s fair to say Alvarado simply didn’t turn up to on the night.
Since then, Rios has been linked to a couple of other noted ‘names’ – including Ruslan Provodnikov, Lucas Matthysse and, most realistically, IBF 147 boss, Britain’s Kell Brook.
Speaking to fighthype.com to discuss the rumours on social media, Rios attempted to clarify his position by appearing to insist it is indeed the UK fighter who is in the frame to be his next opponent.
Talking about the link with the big-punching Matthysse, whom is promoted by Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy outfit, as well as the ‘Banner’ Promoted “Siberian Rocky”, Rios said;
“It’s because De La Hoya said it. It’s because De La Hoya said he’d like to see me fight Lucas Matthysse – and that’d be an insane fight right there. Even the Russian, Provodnikov – we both, we both come to fight and we’ll fu***** leave it all in the ring. That’d be a dangerous fight for both of us.”
“If Ruslan wants to fight I’ll fight him and if Lucas Matthysse wants to fight, I’ll fight him – but at the end of the day it’s down to my manager, Cameron Dunkin. I’m just a fighter, I leave the business up to him.”
Asked what the fans can expect from him for the rest of the year, Rios acknowledged the Brook fight and a trip to the UK as the most likely outcome for him – August 29 being the provisional date, yet he also had a few choice words for promoter Bob Arum’s Top Rank first.
“Hopefully you’ll see me back in the fu***** ring god damn it, sh**! Fu***** Top Rank been holding me down, motherfu*****!”
Addressing his next move, “Bam Bam” said;
“Hopefully (be out) August 29th against Kell Brook in England. Hopefully that’s the (next) fight. They working on the money deal right now but everything’s going alright and working. That’s in the works right now so we find out in a couple of weeks, maybe next month or before that, we’ll find out in a couple of weeks.”
It’ll be a big enough fight in the UK, but with Hearn also planning a big O2 Arena card on September 12 (likely PPV) in London, it’s possible that either of the two dates is viable dependent on what other fights get announced for those cards.
Watch this space.
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Twitter @Undilutedpoison