By Dan Ambrose: Number #1 ranked WBA lightweight contender Brandon Rios (26-0-1, 19 KO’s) challenges World Boxing Association (WBA) lightweight champion Miguel Acosta (28-3-2, 22 KO’s) on February 26th at the Palms Casino Resort, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Rios, 24, is taking a big step up from the kinds of guys he’s been facing. Acosta, 32, is in his prime right now and because of his power and defensive ability, he’s going to be a real problem for Rios on 2/26.

Acosta’s career didn’t really take off until 2009 when he defeated Urbano Antillon by a 9th round TKO to capture the interim WBA lightweight title in July 2009. At the time, Acosta’s win was considered an upset because there was a lot of hype about Antillon at the time. However, Acosta proved that the win wasn’t a fluke when he stopped previously unbeaten WBA lightweight champion Paulus Moses in the 6th round in his very next fight in May 2010. That was a huge win for Acosta and it cemented the fact that he’s a force to be reckoned with in the lightweight division. In his last fight, Acosta defeated Armando Cordoba by a 1st round knockout in November 2010.

Rios had a great 2010, beating Jorge Luis Teron by a 3rd round TKO in February. Rios then followed that up with a dominating 7th round disqualification win over previously unbeaten Anthony Peterson in September 2010. Rios dropped Peterson in the 5th. Peterson lost two points for throwing low blows in the 6th. It looked like Peterson was trying to find a way out of the fight because Rios was hurting him with power shots. In Rios’ last fight, he stopped Omri Lowther in the 5th round in November 2010.