They came with the hope of a double-header of great action. But fans at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas were left a little disappointed.
– UAE: Pacquiao talks basketball, boxing & politics at DXB
– Philippine Cup: Pacquiao fails to find shooting touch
– BOXING: Pacquiao sets sights on 2016 retirement
With a new trainer and a new mentality, Timothy Bradley stepped up to batter Brandon Rios en route to a ninth-round technical knockout. Before that, the electric Vasyl Lomachenko proved far too good for Romulo Koasicha who knelt to the canvas in the 10th having been reduced to a human punch bag. Both fighters were expected to be tested, both put on demolition jobs.
Give me Timothy Bradley vs Kell Brook. That’s the fight to be made. Nobody cares to see Pacquiao-Bradley III.
— FightNights.com™ (@boxing) November 8, 2015
‘Desert Storm’ retained his WBO world title, improving to 33-1-1 with 13 wins now coming inside the distance. A murderous left to the body dropped Rios and though he beat the count, barely, he clearly had nothing left.
A four-punch combo later and Rios was on the canvas again with referee Tony Weeks stopping the bout without a count 2:49 in round nine. The defeat left a dejected Rios announcing his retirement but for Bradley, bigger and better things are ahead.
“That’s the best Bradley I’ve ever seen,” promoter Bob Arum said of the fighter who has been mentioned as a possible foe for Manny Pacquiao next year in what could be the Philippine legend’s last fight.
Fighting for the first time under the guidance of trainer Teddy Atlas, the 32-year-old was quick and aggressive against a challenger who struggled to make the 147-pound weight limit.
“I had a wonderful career I think its time to hang up my gloves,” Rios said. “I’m not giving it my all and I don’t want to take beatings for no reason. I love this sport so much that it’s hard to turn away from it. But when it’s time to hang it up it’s time to hang it up and the time is now.”
Bradley was fast off the mark, landing a series of combinations in a big first round. Rios, the former WBA lightweight champion, absorbed a big right in the second, but responded in a battling exchange. He was doing good work in the third before a body shot from Bradley clearly rattled him.
“I hurt him early to the body,” Bradley said. “I kind of wanted to get him not thinking about it for awhile, and then I went back downstairs.”
From there, it was all Bradley. So, what’s next? According to Yahoo reporter Kevin Iole, Pacquiao asked Top Rank, the promoters for both Bradley and the Pac-Man, to send him a tape of Saturday’s clash, along with Terence Crawford’s win over Dierry Jean last month as he plots his next move.
While Bradley boxed himself back into the big time, Lomachenko, the showman with a distinguished amateur career, continued his rise.
The Ukrainian retained his WBO featherweight crown having dominated throughout, punishing his Mexican adversary with an array of punches before landing a string of body blows that brought Koasicha down in the 10th.
“I was just having fun in there,” said Lomachenko, an Olympic gold medallist in 2008 and 2012 who lost only once in a fabled 500-fight amateur career and captured his world title in just his third pro bout. “If I really wanted to knock him out I would have done it earlier.”
The 27-year-old improved to 5-1 with three knockouts and could be in line for a fight with Guillermo Rigondeaux in a clash of former amateur titans. Cuba’s Rigondeaux also won two Olympic titles, in 2004 and 2008, and is unbeaten in 15 pro fights.
Across the Atlantic, Callum Smith made history in Liverpool when he floored Rocky Fielding three times in the opening round to be crowned British super-middleweight champion. The victory not only puts him on course for a world title shot next year it also meant that Smith became the fourth brother from his family to hold a British title, an unprecedented feat.
