?Who is Richard Abril? ?Inquired Big Steve while wearing out a stair master inside the Y in Glendale:? I?ve never even heard of him.? That?s a very good question. No one has ever heard of Richard Abril till about a month ago when he showed up in Miami at a Rios Gamboa press conference. Yuriorkis Gamboa was a no show. Richard Abril pushed Brandon Rios and called him out. As a result of that altercation, WBA interim lightweight champion, Richard Abril will be defending his title against former champion, Brandon Rios (29-0-1,22KO?S) this Saturday, April 14th at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas
Unlike his country man, Gamboa who was originally supposed to fight Rios, Abril does not have decorated amateur background or blinding speed, but what he does have is belief in himself and solid boxing skills. Abril and Rios have one common opponent, Miguel Acosta. After a life and death struggle in February of last year, Rios stopped Acosta in a tenth round of WBA lightweight title fight, only to lose it later that same year on the scale. Abril beat Acosta in October of last year dropping him three times on a way to a unanimous decision victory and interim WBA title. Advertisement
I?ve asked Rios?s trusted coach, Roberta Garcia if he saw the fight between Abril and Acosta?
?I’ve seen that too,? confirmed Garcia:? I have a really good friend of Acosta in my gym. Alfonso Blanco, he is a very good friend of Acosta and he tells me that Acosta took the fight on three days? notice because he just needed some money and wasn’t really in good shape. So we didn’t really see what Acosta had.?
Abril (17-2-1,8KO?S) insists that two L?s on his professional record were fights that he actually won but didn?t get a decision. One of those loses was at the hands of then undefeated Colombian banger, Breidis Prescott who went to England after that bout in 2008 and knocked out Amir Khan in a very first round.
?I’ve seen him fight Prescott and it was a really close fight,? said coach, Garcia:? Prescott won the fight by split decision but it was really close. I am going from the fight against Acosta and Prescott. Those are the fights that I’ve been watching. We are getting ready for a good fight.?
So what kind of problems does Abril present for Brandon Rios?
?It’s just that he is taller and he uses his reach a lot,? replied coach Garcia:? He throws long punches and tries to keep the fighter on the outside, but that happens when you have a fighter that stays in front of you but not the one that keeps coming and coming. So I don’t see any problems there in reality.?
So far the only problems Abril brought to Rios were during press conferences. Cuban fighetr pushed Brandon in Miami a month ago and then in Los Angeles last Monday.? Bam Bam? Rios was highly disappointed that he didn?t get a chance to retaliate in both instances.? I just want to punch him,? Rios said. He will get his shot on April 14th.
If you like this story, please click the subscribe button at the top of this page and get my articles sent directly to your email. Check out my latest in the suggested articles section below.
Contact Igor Frank at [email protected] or follow me on Face book or follow me (Fightmonger) on Twitter
