SO WHAT ELSE IS NEW? ABRIL WINS THE FIGHT BUT THE JUDGES GIVE THE NOD TO RIOS

Mandalay Bay Events Center, Las Vegas, NV:- The fight between the loud mouth Brandon Rios of Oxnard, CA and a substitute opponent Richard Abril of Cuba was one fight that was hyped to high heavens by the Top Rank spin masters.

Of course being good as they are, they succeeded in getting the fight a lot of attention... that is until one of the central character messed up the whole thing.

Rios in a return performance again came in over the contractual weight agreed upon. He did exactly the same in his last fight against John Murray. In fact, for tonight?s fight he was officially pegged at 137 lbs.

Rios and his team did everything they could to bring the weight down but to no avail.

So with that Rios had to fight sans $40,000 from his purse. He also lost the ability to win back his title if he won the fight.

All the pressure must have laid a heavy weight on young Rios? shoulder.

Tonight in his fight with Richard Abril, he was a far cry from the Rios of old. He did not have the tenacity. He did not have the zip in his punches. He was just going through the motion.

Abril however came to fight and had a game plan. He used his longer reach and scored from the outside.

In fact from the perspective of the auxiliary photographers, and many in the Arena, Abril won the fight.

Oh it could have been 7 rounds to 5 either way, but mostly Abril?s way.

When the scores of 116-112 and 115-113 for Rios and 117-111 for Abril were announced, it rained boos and catcalls inside the arena.

Abril may have won the fight but Rios won on the score cards.

In boxing, that?s all that counts. The guy declared as winner by the judges is the winner.

Tonight?s fight result is the stuff that speeds boxing as it goes to the dogs. It?s a crying shame and it can make one throw up.

But as they said, without these shenanigans, boxing won?t be the same.

What a shame!