By Dan Ambrose: Former WBA lightweight champion Brandon Rios (29-0-1, 22 KO’s) failed at making weight for his lightweight fight against Richard Abril (17-2-1, 8 KO’s) that takes place tonight with the WBA lightweight interim title on the line for Abril only, as well as $50,000 in bonus money. Rios can’t win the bonus cash even if he beats Abril nor can he win the WBA interim strap because Rios came in over the limit in two tries during Friday’s weigh-in.

Not making weight isn’t a new thing for Rios, as he failed to make the 135 pound limit for his last bout against John Murray last December, surrendering his World Boxing Association title on the scales after missing the weight. Rios then hired a nutritionist that was supposed to have fixed the problem with Rios’ being over the lightweight. However, that didn’t happen, as Rios came in at 137 pounds during his first attempt during yesterday’s weigh-in, two pounds over the limit on his second attempt, Rios weighed in even heavier at 139, which suggests that they may have given up on the idea of making the weight.

He looked terrible physically with face looking pace and painfully thin from having lost a lot of water weight in the past week. He’s now obviously rehydrating for tonight’s fight but you got to hope Rios can at least get the win over Abril. If he loses that on top of the chance for the $50,000 bonus money and the interim WBA lightweight division, it would be a huge blow to Rios’ career. His promoter Bob Arum has designs of putting Rios in with Juan Manuel Marquez in his next fight on July 14th at the Cowboys’ Stadium in Arlington, Texas. That won’t happen if Rios can’t beat Abril or if he looks terrible in getting the win.

Rios and Abril will be fighting at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada in an HBO pay-per-view card with the asking price of $44.95. Along with the Rios-Abril fight, there will be Marquez vs. Sergiy Fedchenko and Mike Alvarado vs. Mauricio Herrera in a split site telecast.

Rios will no doubt have to give up on the idea of fighting at lightweight in the future, because of his weight problems. Even if he’s able to convince Arum that he can make the fight, it’s just too risky for him to be put back in the division for fights because you can’t count on him making weight and that ruins things in a big way. Rios is just going to have to try and find a place at light welterweight. Good luck, because he’s going to need it.