By Dan Ambrose: #1 WBO 140 lb. contender Brandon Rios (31-0-1, 23 KO’s) dreams of one day being able to fight for the WBC light welterweight title. For some reason that’s the belt that’s always wanted to have, but the chances of him fighting for that title seem to be impossibility in today’s boxing climate.
Rios, 26, will be fighting for the interim WBO light welterweight title on March 30th against #2 WBO Mike Alvarado (33-1, 23 KO’s) at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.
There’s a chance that Rios could face the WBO light welterweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez if he gets past Alvarado, but there’s also a possibility that Marquez will vacate his title rather than face Rios.
Rios said to WBCboxing.com “Since I was little I wanted that [WBC] belt. I also told my dad that I wanted the WBC green belt.”
It’s unclear how many years are remaining on Rios’ contract with Top Rank, but if he’s really serious about wanting to fight for the WBC light welterweight title then he’s going to need to leave Top Rank and sign up with Golden Boy Promotions or a neutral promoter and then Rios will be able to fight for the WBC strap. Unfortunately, that’s probably not going to happen and if it does it’s going to be a number of years before his contract runs out with Top Rank.
Rios isn’t going to be able to fight in a unification bout against the current WBC champion Danny Garcia because he fights for Golden Boy Promotions and his fights or televised by Showtime rather than HBO. Those two reasons are going to prevent Rios from fighting for the WBC strap until his contract expires with Top Rank.
Rios needs to focus on just trying to beat Alvarado on Mach 30th, because Rios already has a controversial decision on his resume over Richard Abril from last year, and if he fights like that against Alvarado on March 30th, the judges might get it right this time and give the fight to Alvarado.
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