By Dan Ambrose: Former WBA lightweight champion Brandon Rios (30-0-1, 22 KO’s) will be moving up in weight to face #8 IBF light welterweight contender Mauricio Herrera (18-2, 7 KO’s) in a non-title fight on June 30th at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Also on the card will be WBO super bantamweight champion Nonito Donaire (28-1, 18 KO’s) fighting a unification bout against IBF super bantamweight champion Jeffrey Mathebula (26-3-2, 14 KO’s).

I don’t care for the Donaire-Mathebula fight, as I see that as yet another safe fight for Donaire to keep him winning. Mathebula is nothing special at all, as seen by his recent loss to Takalani Ndlovu. Although Mathebula did avenge the defeat in his last fight, he still looks very average and a lot like a paper champion. I would much rather see Donaire face WBA super bantamweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux, because it seems like Donaire is avoiding him for some reason. I like Rigondeaux by knockout over Donaire if and when they fight, which is probably never because Donaire already said no to the fight.

Herrera, 31, was just beaten by the tough Mika Alvarado by a 10 round unanimous decision last month in a fight of the year candidate. Both Alvarado and Herrera stood toe-to-toe for 10 rounds trading shot after shot. It was a really tough fight for both guys and I’m surprised that Herrera is going into another hard fight so quickly.

Rios looked terrible in getting a gift 12 round split decision over Richard Abril last month in a fight that he definitely should have lost. Rios doesn’t agree. He feels he rightfully won the fight, and perhaps him and his trainer are alone in that belief. But whatever the case, Rios got the win but he likely won’t be given a second victory like that if he doesn’t perform.

I don’t see Rios as being much of a factor at 140 unless all the good fighters move up in weight, because he’s too limited and doesn’t handle boxers with skills very well.

Herrera is coming into this fight at the wrong time. He really should take a rest before facing Rios, because he took too much punishment against the bigger and stronger Alvarado. However, Herrera won’t have to worry about facing anyone as strong as Alvarado, because Rios isn’t as powerful or as big as Alvarado. But Herrera, a stationary fighter, is more or less made to order for Rios. He does well against those types of fighters and he should be okay in this fight if he doesn’t wear down or have to deal with any kind of movement from Herrera. That’s doubtful, because Herrera likes to trade shots, even when it’s against his best interest to do so.