By Jim Dower: Former WBA lightweight champion Brandon Rios (29-0-1, 22 KO’s) looked weaker than he usually does in stopping John Murray (31-2, 18 KO’s) in the 11th round on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden. Rios hurt Murray in the 11th with some hard power shots and then followed with a nice right uppercut followed quickly by a left hook to the head that prompted for referee Earl Brown to step in and halt the fight at 2:06 of the round.

Rios struggled in the first five round, though, getting pressured constantly by Murray and getting hit a lot. However, in the 6th round, Rios finally got his game in gear when he made a mess of Murray’s face with numerous head shots in the round. That was the turning of the fight, as Murray suddenly lost steam on his punches and became much less effective from then on. Rios was able to hit him with a lot of left hooks to the head.

Rios teed off on Murray from the 7th round on, blasting him with punches and wearing him down. You knew the fight wouldn’t be going too much longer at that point but you have to give Murray a lot of credit for sticking it out until the 11th. In that round, Rios finally trapped Murray against the ropes and hit him with a number of hard shots until the referee stepped in to halt the fight. Not too many boxing fans thought Murray make it this far, and he deserves a lot of credit for fighting so well. Compared to his last fight against Kevin Mitchell, Murray fought a lot better against a superior fighter to Mitchell.