Brandon Rios replaces Kelly Pavlik on Manny Pacquiao-Antonio Margarito Card

source: Lem Satterfield | boxing.fanhouse.com

Lightweight (135 pounds) Brandon Rios (pictured above, at left) of Oxnard, Calif., whose two-fisted power is only rivaled by his colorful personality...

 




...will replace injured Kelly Pavlik on the HBO-televised, Top Rank Promotions Nov. 13 under card whose main event matches WBO welterweight (147 pounds) king and seven-division king Manny Pacquiao and former titlist Antonio Margarito for the WBC junior middleweight (154 pounds) belt at The Dallas Cowboys Stadium.

Until suffering a rib injury, Pavlik (36-2, 32 knockouts) was scheduled to face Bryan Lee Vera (17-5, 11 KOs) in a clash of 28-year-olds on the under card of Pacquiao (51-3-2, 38 KOs) and Margarito (38-6, 27 KOs). Pavlik's trainer, Jack Loew, called the fighter's manager, Cameron Dunkin, and pulled him out of the fight on Sunday night.

Read More: Kelly Pavlik's Rib Injury Scuttles Nov. 13 Fight

"Actually, last night, my coach, Robert Garcia, he gave me some news that I might be fighting on the Nov. 13 card. He said not to tell anyone yet, but that I might be," said Rios, who already was in training alongside Margarito with Garcia in Oxnard, Calif.

"So this morning, he called me and told straight up that I'm going to be fighting on Nov. 13, and I said, 'hell yeah,' I'm ready," said Rios, who will face an opponent to be determined, according to Top Rank match maker Brad Goodman. "I was going to the fight anyway to be at ringside, so I'm really excited. I do this for a living, so I'm not nervous. I'm ready. I'm always ready. Whatever comes along, I'm okay and I'm ready."


The 24-year-old Rios (25-0-1, 18 KOs) is coming off of a Sept. 11, seventh-round disqualification victory over Anthony Peterson (32-1, 20 KOs) of Washington, D.C., in a WBA eliminator bout. Rios had won six straight bouts, all by knockout, heading into the fight with Peterson.

Rios was originally scheduled to face 23-year-old Noe Balonos (21-5-1, 13 KOs), of Ciudad Obregon, Sonora, Mex., on Dec. 4 at The Pond in Anaheim, Calif., as part of a big Top Rank Promotions card whose main event features junior middleweight middleweight (160 pounds) contender Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (40-0, 30 KOs) of Mexico against Alfonso Gomez (22-4-2, 11 KOs), of Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mex.

That Dec. 4 card will also boast rising WBA interim super flyweight (115 pounds) champion Nonito Donaire (24-1, 16 KOs) of the Philippines against WBA bantamweight (118 pounds) titlist Ukrainian Voldymyr Sydorenko (22-2-2, seven KOs), and, WBC lightweight champion Humberto Soto (53-7-2, 32 KOs), of Tijuana, Baja, Calif., Mex., making his third defense of his title against Mexican-born, Urbano Antillon (28-1, 20 KOs) of Maywood, Calif.

"I don't know who my opponent is going to be. I don't know if it's going to be the guy that I was going to fight on Dec. 4 or somebody else. But whoever it is, we're ready for it. It's not like I haven't been training. I've been in the gym," said Rios.

"I think that the fight will be at a catch weight, like maybe at 138 or 140. Since they told me at the last moment, and I was preparing myself for Bolanos," said Rios. "I'm not saying that I can't make the weight at 135, but I'm ready to fight."

Rios will be part of a card that already includes Cuban-born southpaw two-time former Olympic gold medalist and former super bantamweight (122 pounds) Guillermo Rigondeaux (6-0, five knockouts) against Panamanian southpaw featherweight (126 pounds) Ricardo Cordoba (37-2-2, 23 KOs), and Philadelphia welterweight Mike Jones (22-0, 18 KOs) in a bout opposite Mexican-born Jesus Soto Karass (24-4-3, 16 KOs) of Los Angeles.

With Soto fighting on Dec. 4, and WBA and WBO lightweight king Juan Manuel Marquez (51-5-1, 37 KOs) of Mexico defending against Australia's Michael Katsidis (27-2, 22 KOs), Rios sees Nov. 13 as an opportunity to increase his stock toward being considered for a title bout.

"I think that I've already shown the world that I'm no joke by beating Anthony Peterson, and I'm ready to take on those types of fighters like Humberto Soto and Marquez and Katsidis," said Rios.

"I'm ready for those types of fights. I just hope that they give me a chance. Maybe Juan Manuel Marquez will give me a chance," said Rios. "I think that I have proven myself and that I have put myself in position for those types of fights, and I'm just ready to make some noise in the lightweight division. I'm ready for all of the big guys."

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