Diego Chaves

By Dan Ambrose: Brandon Rios (31-2-1, 23 KOs) made weight today for his fight this Saturday night against Diego Chaves (23-1, 19 KOs) at The Chelsea at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. Rios weighed in at 147 pounds.

Surprisingly, Rios didn’t look nearly as weight-drained as he normally does for his weigh-ins. He still looked a little weight drained, but not to the extent for his recent fights.

Rios has been talking about having gone back to the basics for this fight and worked extra hard without the help of a strength and conditioning coach to help him shed the excess weight. Rios feels that he was drained from his workouts with his strength coach for his last two fights.

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By Dan Ambrose: Former WBA lightweight champion Brandon Rios (31-2-1, 23 KOs) says for his fight this Saturday night against Diego Chaves (23-1, 19 KOs) that he’s trained like he used to do when he was a world champion years ago.

Chaves is by far the biggest puncher that Rios have ever faced before during his career and he’s going to be hit a lot in this fight. Rios takes pride in having a great chin that he feels is unbreakable, but we’re going to find out if that’s true or not when he starts getting hammered by Chaves’s huge shots.

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By Dan Ambrose: #10 IBF Diego Chaves (23-1, 19 KOs) has received his visa today to travel to the United States to face former WBA lightweight champion Brandon Rios (31-2-1, 23 KOs) this Saturday night on HBO from the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.

Chaves had to wait to get his visa due to a backlog on visa applications. Rios’ promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank pushed hard in reportedly contacting senator Harry Reid to see if he could speed up the process. Arum was ready to have light welterweight Jose Zepeda step in and take the fight with Rios if Chaves couldn’t get the visa.

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By Chris Williams: Top Rank promoter Bob Arum got help by senator Harry Reid in getting the visa for Brandon Rios’ opponent for Saturday Diego Chaves (23-1, 19 KOs), according to Dan Rafael of ESPN. Arum contacted Reid when it appeared that Chaves wasn’t going to be able to get his visa in time due to a backlog of visas at the U.S immigration services.

Chaves is traveling from his home country of Argentina to face Rios in a fight televised by HBO at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.

“We had Harry Reid’s office helping us with the consulate in Buenos Aires,” Arum said to Dan Rafael of EPN. “We got a call from Sen. Reid’s office that the visa was cleared. Sen. Reid knows this is an important event for Las Vegas and his office went to bat on it and accomplished a miracle.”

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By Dan Ambrose: Brandon Rios (31-2-1, 23 KOs) will be fighting for the first time in nine months when he gets in the ring in fight against the tough #10 IBF Diego Chaves (23-1, 19 KOs) in a 10 round bout at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The Rios-Chaves fight is part of an HBO After Dark split site double-header. WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev (24-0-1, 22 KO’s) defends against #10 WBO Blake Caparello (19-0-1, 6 KOs) from the Revel Resort, in Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA.

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By Dan Ambrose: Former WBA lightweight champion Brandon Rios (31-2-1, 23 KO’s) is calling his August 2nd fight against #10 IBF Diego Chaves (23-1, 19 KO’s) a “Do-or-die fight for me,” when he faces the tough Argentinian at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.

At media workout today in Oxnard, California, Rios said Chaves is a tough fighter. I expect a hard fight and one the fans will enjoy. Believe me, I’m far from finished. I want to get to the position I was in before.”

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By Dan Ambrose: Former WBA lightweight champion Brandon Rios (31-2-1, 23 KO’s) is matched up fairly tough in a fight against #10 IBF welterweight contender Diego Chaves (23-1, 19 KO’s) in their scheduled 10 round fight in less than two weeks from now on August 2nd at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.

Rios hasn’t fought since his one-sided 12 round unanimous decision loss to Manny Pacquiao last November. Rios took a beating in that fight and wasn’t competitive at all in losing the fight in Macao, China.

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By Dan Ambrose: Former WBA lightweight champion Brandon Rios (31-2-1, 23 KO’s) will be returning to the in crucial fight on 8/2 against Diego Chaves (23-1, 19 KO’s) in a fight that Rios can’t afford to lose at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.

Rios looked like a punching bag in his last two fight both of which he lost to Manny Pacquiao and Mike Alvarado. Now he’s at the point where he can’t take another loss if he wants to be able to do something with his career.

In Rios’ press conference in Los Angeles, California on Tuesday, he talked about partially about wanting to prove to fans that he still has something left. Fans are going to find out whether that’s the case because Top Rank matched him fairly tough by putting him in with the slugger Chaves. He gave Keith Thurman a lot of problems last year before losing by a 10th round TKO. Thurman had to use movement to keep out of range early in the fight after getting nailed by some big shots.

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By Dan Ambrose: Former WBA lightweight champion Brandon Rios (31-2-1, 23 KO’s) sees himself at the brink of career implosion going into his August 2nd fight against #10 IBF Diego Chaves (23-1, 19 KO’s) at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. Rios, 28, has lost his last two fights to Manny Pacquiao and Mike Alvarado, and not looked good at all in either of them.

While Rios’ trainer Robert Garcia has been quick to try and make excuses for his defeats, the fact of the matter is that Rios hasn’t looked like a world class fighter recently. It wasn’t so much that he was beaten by Pacquiao and Alvarado in his last two fights, it was how he was beaten. Rios looked like a punching bag in both fights and that’s troubling.

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By Allan Fox: Brandon Rios (31-2-1, 23 KO’s) will be trying to turn his career around against #10 WBA welterweight contender Diego Chaves (23-1, 19 KO’s) in two months on August 2nd at the Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas, Nevada. Rios, 28, has been sitting out of action since he was thrashed by Manny Pacquiao last November in losing 12 round unanimous decision in Macao, China.

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