Undefeated former World Lightweight Champion BRANDON “Bam Bam” RIOS (29-0-1, 22 KOs), of Oxnard, Calif., and his opponent, World Boxing Association (WBA) interim lightweight champion and Cuban expatriate RICHARD ABRIL (17-2-1, 8 KOs), of Miami, Fla., hosted a Los Angeles news conference today at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel to kickoff Fight Week for their WBA lightweight title tilt. Hostilities quickly broke out and they had to be separated by their respective camps when they began shoving each other during their photo op. Here’s what they had to say.
Rios-Abril presser confrontation: part 2
The pair had a run-in at a previous press conference, and Rios isn’t one to hold back his true feelings. In this video, you can see a bit of a dust-up at the LA presser for their upcoming clash on PPV.
Richard Abril
“I did what I did at the Miami press conference to tell Rios he should be fighting me, not Gamboa, because I am a real champion. Rios is not as good as what people say.”
Brandon Rios
“No unheard of fighter like Abril will ever beat me. He’s going to go down and go down real hard. In the boxing world Abril is in the darkness and I plan to keep him there. I haven’t forgotten what he did to me in Miami. He’s going to pay big-time for that.”
Three-division world champion and Méxican icon JUAN MANUEL MÁRQUEZ (53-6-1, 39 KOs), of México City, will be going for his fourth world title in as many different weight divisions when he rumbles with World Boxing Organization (WBO) European junior welterweight champion SERGEY FEDCHENKO (30-1, 13 KOs), of Kharkov, Ukraine for the vacant WBO interim 140-pound world title. Rios will attempt to reclaim his old title when he battles Abril for the vacant WBA lightweight championship belt. Márquez vs. Fedchenko and Rios headline a world championship pay-per-view event that’s so big its main events are originating from two different countries!
