LAS VEGAS–They held a big white beach towel across Brandon Rios’ nether regions as he stepped on the scales at the Mandalay Bay Hotel Friday afternoon. Better they should have held it over mouthy Bam Bam’s face as he embarrassed himself, his promoter and his entire Team Rios by making 137 pounds, two over the lightweight division for a Saturday night PPV TV WBA interim title bout against smack talking Cuban Richard Abril. Abril may talk junk but at least he was professional, scaling the division limit at 135 pounds. For those of you counting how many times the cocksure Rios, trained by the excellent Robert Garcia, has had his arse kicked by the scales, this is the second fight in succession this has transpired In December, in New York, Rios did not make the required weight to fight John Murray but the fight went on regardless and Rios slugged his way to a hollow victory. Rios paid a penalty of $20,000 for that sin and was whacked with a $45,000 fine here.
Suffice to say Rios’ eating habits are getting expensive.
Over here, Rios left himself in a position (oh, by the way, he returned to the scale an hour after his first try and topped out at 139 pounds) in which he cannot win the WBA interim crown. The fight is going on but merely as another regular fight for the unbeaten Rios but a title winning opportunity for the 17-2-1, eight KOs Miami resident Abril. While a zombie-looking Rios stood on the scales on his first try, his highly touted (at least by chatterbox Rios) nutritionist Cecilio Flores stood alongside, beaming and holding a nutritional beverage. Oh, well, so much for Flores being in the vanguard of boxing nutrition mavens. Rios will now campaign only as a 140 pound junior welterweight, a move he should have probably made a year ago. As for Flores, he doesn’t get a free pass here. I wonder if he should even get paid a nickel or a dime. He was hired to insure his client would make the weight. His client failed miserably. Time for a new nutritionist. One Top Rank official said that both Rios and Garcia had assured him on Thursday the weight would not be an issue. “That’s what the kid (Rios) and Grandpa (Garcia’s nickname) assured us,” TR matchmaker Bruce “Southland” Trampler said. The show goes on with Manny Pacquiao nemesis Juan Manuel Marquez headlining from Meixco City in a tune up bout as he awaits a fourth chance to officially defeat the Pinoy Idol. Speaking of weighting, my client Mercito “No Mercy” Gesta made his lightweight limit weight with no problems for his co-feature bout. The only “wait issue” for the Cebuano is how long the undefeated Cebuano will wait for a title chance. Under manager/trainer Vince Parra, Gesta shows all the signs of being primed to capture a world title. They held a towel over Rios so as not to expose the family jewels. At the same time, the scale told his story. “Bam Bam” has thrown in the towel, albeit late, on his saga as a swashbuckling lightweight.
