CARSON, Calif. It was furious, it was fast and if it was a metaphor for Brandon Rios’ future, he won’t argue.
He and Urbano Antillon turned the tennis center at The Home Depot Center into a Tombstone barroom Saturday night.
It ended 2:49 into the third round, with Antillon wandering senselessly toward his own corner, saved by the merciful hand of referee David Mendoza. http://www.ocregister.com/
Rios, dressed in leopard trunks, immediately sped to the turnbuckle and scaled it like a Himalayan peak, then did the same to the opposite corner. Trainer Robert Garcia spritzed water into Rios’ face as the WBA lightweight champion began to realize the milk and honey that lies before him.
Rios’ frenetic action and his two-handed power have lifted him to a new level in the sport. It might be a high plateau but, thanks to the uncompromising way Rios fights and lives, it might not be a long one. And that’s fine.
The performance moved promoter Bob Arum to utter the only word that really matters in the game these days. The P word.
“Brandon Rios is an emerging superstar,” Arum said. “In a year or two I would match him against Manny Pacquiao.”
And remember, Arum is the only man who can do that.
“He might be the only man who can match that combination of speed and power,” continued Arum, who remains convinced that Floyd Mayweather Jr. only talks about fighting Pacquiao when it doesn’t seem possible.
The only problem with this fight, other than what it might have done to Antillon’s motor skills, is that it came and went so fast.
It was entirely possible to give Antillon the first two rounds. He walked right into Rios’ wheelhouse when the fight started and battered him with both hands.
Rios, who has said he doesn’t get his motor started until someone hits him, responded with uppercuts that backed off Antillon, but the Maywood native regained control near the end of the round.
Incidentally, that could have been judged Round of the Year, at least if you like punches.
The second round was more of the same. Rios might have done a bit more damage, but Antillon seemed just fine. Then when the round ended, neither man wanted to leave the ring, jawing at each other until Mendoza got between them. Rios had a lopsided grin as he got to Garcia’s corner.
The third round brought quick resolution. Rios stepped up the pace and whacked Antillon with a left, on the top of the head. A combination followed, and Antillon went down. He would go down again, but it’s debatable that he remembers it.
“That left was a devastating punch,” said Abel Sanchez, Antillon’s trainer. “The rest of it was just an accumulation of punches, but I don’t think he ever recovered from that.”
Antillon shrugged.
“He caught me,” he said. “I fought Humberto Soto and he has better defensive skills, but this guy is a lot stronger.”
Rios could have told him that beforehand.
The only thing that neither Rios nor Antillon did was fill the stadium, although the Top Rank people had begun to expect they would.
There was also Notre Dame light-heavyweight Mike Lee, who had a pretty good cadre of Fighting Irish followers to watch him knock out Michael Birthmark in three rounds.
Still, the crowd was only 3,776.
Sooner or later Rios’ charisma will show – a devilish smile, the willingness to stir up the pot at every news conference and interview, a bit of unaccountable menace, and all the fight you could ask for.
“He has the power and he has the heart,” said Antonio Margarito, when asked about Rios’ chances of meeting Pacquiao.
Rios said his team had watched Antillon enough to spot a few openings.
“I thought I was stronger and I knew I was younger,” Rios said. “And I brought some of that anger into the ring.
“I think he thought the fight would last a lot longer, but that didn’t happen. At this point I’ll fight anybody at 135 pounds, anybody they want to throw at me.”
Pacquiao is no longer fighting at 135, of course, which means Rios would have to beef up.
The two most inviting possibilities are virtual Sunshine Boys in the sport.
Arum immediately mentioned Marco Antonio Barrera, who was at ringside as an analyst for Mexico’s Azteca network.
Barrera is 67-7-1 and he is 37. His defining fights with Erik Morales happened in 2000, 2002 and 2004. He also has lost three of his past eight fights, to Amir Khan, Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez.
Marquez is the other likely candidate. He fights Pacquiao in November. He will be 38 then.
They are old enough to think they can take some of the starch out of Brandon Rios. But are they wise enough to know better?
