Boxing News Boxing News
Undefeated former World Lightweight Champion Brandon “Bam Bam” Rios (29-0-1, 22 KOs), of Oxnard, Calif., his opponent, WBA interim lightweight champion and Cuban expatriate Richard Abril (17-2-1, 8 KOs), hosted the Final Las Vegas News Conference today in the Mizuya Lounge at Mandalay Bay.
Joining Rios and Abril were Top 10 contenders “Mile High” Mike Alvarado (32-0, 23 KOs), of Denver, Mercito and Mauricio Herrera (18-1, 7 KOs), of Riverside, Calif., who will take on each other in a 10-round junior welterweight fight.
The participants discussed their upcoming career-defining fights on this Saturday’s world championship pay-per-view card originating from Las Vegas and México City.
Brandon Rios:
“He [Abril] is going to run. He is going to try and run away from me all night. He talks about how he’s going to punish me. If he wants to do that he’s going to have to fight me.
But I think he’s going to pull a Forrest Gump. ‘Run Richard. Run!’
“I’m a lion inside the ring and a lion outside the ring. What I say I’ll do, I do. I walk the walk.”
Richard Abril:
“I feel very good and I am very prepared for this fight. You [Rios] have been talking a lot of smack. Well, I’m here and not afraid of you. I’m the one who wanted this fight. You are not 100% Mexican. You talk a lot of smack.”
“I ride horses, listen to Mexican music and speak the language. I am more Mexican than Rios. He doesn’t even understand me when I yell at him in Spanish!”
Mike Alvarado:
“I trained hard for this fight. It’s my best camp ever. I hope Herrera can swim because I’m taking him into deep water. I’m taking him deep like Todd Helton.”
Mauricio Herrera:
“This is it for me. I’m ready. A lot of hard work went into my preparation. I’ve waited a long time to finally face one of the best to prove myself. I’m ready and I will perform.”
Three-division world champion and Méxican icon Juan Manuel Marquez will be going for his fourth world title in as many different weight divisions when he rumbles with WBO European junior welterweight champion Sergey Fedchenko 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 vs. Abril headline a world championship pay-per-view event that’s so big its main events are originating from two different countries!
Márquez-Fedchenko will take place in México City’s brand new Arena México, while Rios-Abril, along with a 10-round junior welterweight collision between Top 10 contenders Alvarado and Herrera, and a 10-round lightweight bout featuring Mercito “No Mercy” Gesta (24-0-1, 12 KOs), of Cebu, Philippines, against Oscar Cuero (15-7, 12 KOs), of Cartagena, Colombia, Saturday, April 14, at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.
Boxing fans at Mandalay Bay will also see the Márquez-Fedchenko world title fight live, via closed-circuit, on a jumbo screen. The Márquez/Rios world championship event will be produced by Top Rank and distributed Live by HBO Pay-Per-View, beginning at 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT.
Promoted by Top Rank, in association with Zanfer Promotions, Tecate and AT&T, remaining tickets, priced at $250, $150, $100, $50 and $25, not including applicable service charges, are available at all Ticketmaster locations (select Smith’s Food and Drug Centers and Ritmo Latino). To charge by phone with a major credit card, call Mandalay Bay at (877) 632-7400 or Ticketmaster at (800) 745-3000. Tickets also will be available for purchase at www.mandalaybay.com or www.ticketmaster.com.
