Rios-Chaves

By Dan Ambrose: ESPN commentator Teddy Atlas went into one of his legendary rants last Friday night at the referee job by Vic Drakulich in last week’s fight between Top Rank promoted Brandon Rios and Diego Chaves.

Atlas thinks that Drakulich lost control over the fight early and then blew it by disqualifying Chaves in the 9th round without telling anyone why he was disqualifying him. Atlas thinks that is was odd that Chaves was disqualified at a time when he was leading in the fight going into the 9th. Atlas points out that Rios is a Top Rank fighter, and that the show was a Top Rank promoted event. Atlas doubts that Rios would have been disqualified by Drakulich.

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By Dan Ambrose: Trainer Robert Garcia says that his fighter Brandon Rios (32-2-1, 23 KOs) contacted him from the hospital to tell him that he wants a rematch against the hard hitting Argentinian Diego Chaves (23-2, 19 KOs) because he’s not happy with the result of his 9th round disqualification win over him from last Saturday night at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, Nevada.

Rios was training in the 9th round when referee Vic Drakulich disqualified Chaves for reportedly throwing an elbow. I still haven’t seen when and where the elbow was thrown, but that was a reason for the stoppage.

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By Dan Ambrose: Brandon Rios (32-2-1, 23 KOs) was taken to a nearby Las Vegas hospital last Saturday night for an MRI following his 9th round disqualification win over Diego Chaves (23-2, 19 KOs) after reportedly complaining of dizziness, headache and eye problems, according to Dan Rafael of ESPN. Rios was unable to attend the post-fight press conference because he was taken to the hospital.

The MRI results were clear. Rios, who prides himself on his ability to take punishment, took a lot of really hard punches to the head in the fight from Chaves. It’s kind of a good thing that the fight wasn’t a 12 round fight, and that referee Vic Drakulich stepped in to stop the fight because Rios could have was getting hit harder than he’d ever been hit before in any of his fights.

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By Dan Ambrose: Diego Chaves (23-2, 19 KOs) came away from his loss to Brandon Rios (32-2-1, 23 KOs) last Saturday night with a certain element of respect for the fighter despite the strange ending of the fight at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.

Chaves said after the fight that he admired the way that Rios was able to take his best shots during the fight and keep coming. He felt that Rios was like a punching bag with the way he was able to eat his punches. Chaves hit Rios with some tremendous shots in the fight that would have knocked out many welterweights in the division. But Rios, who weighed 159 pounds the night of the fight, took them all.

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By Allan Fox: The tough Argentinian fighter Diego Chaves (23-2, 19 KOs) says he absolutely wants a rematch against former WBA lightweight champion Brandon Rios (32-2-1, 23 KOs), and that he’s willing to fight him anywhere he likes, as long as referee Vic Drakulich isn’t going to be working the fight against. Chaves lost last Saturday night to Rios by a 9th round disqualification in a fight that Chaves was leading by the scores of 75-74, 75-74 for Chaves, and 75-74 for Rios at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.

Chaves had two points deducted by Drakulich during the fight before being disqualified in the 9th. Without Drakulich taking 2 points off of Chaves, Rios would have been in a near hopeless situation going into the 10th round.

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By Chris Williams: Top Rank promoter Bob Arum, the promoter for Brandon Rios (32-2-1, 23 KOs), says that visiting fighter Diego Chaves (23-2, 19 KOs) was disqualified last night by referee Vic Drakulich for having thrown an elbow before a head-lock in the 9th rather than for having allegedly gauged the eyes of Rios, which is what Rios was complaining about.

“It was an elbow that he was disqualified for and not a gauge of the eye,” Arum said at the post-fight press conference.

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By Dan Ambrose: In re-watching last night’s controversial fight between Brandon Rios (32-2-1, 23 KOs) and Argentinian Diego Chaves (23-2, 19 KOs), it seemed to me that referee Vic Drakulich took Rios’ word that he’d been thumbed in the eye during a head-lock in the 9th round rather than having seen it himself in their fight at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.

Drakulich then disqualified Chaves on the spot. Rios’ complaining to Drakulich appears to have been the catalyst for him disqualifying Chaves. There was no way that Drakulich would have seen Chaves thumbing Rios during a head-lock because he was bent over with Chaves’ hard around his head.

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By Dan Ambrose: Former WBA lightweight champion Brandon Rios (32-2-1, 23 KOs) suffered a shoulder and eye injury on Saturday night in winning a 9th round disqualification victory over Diego Chaves (23-2, 19 KOs) at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.

Rios was unable to attend the post-fight press conference due to an injured shoulder or collarbone, as well as eye injury.

“Rios is dizzy and may have a separated shoulder or broken collarbone in addition to the eye injury, per his manager Mickey Felix,” Kevin Iole of Yahoo Sports said. “Bob Arum just said Rios isn’t coming to the press conference. He is concerned he has a corneal abrasion.”

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By Dan Ambrose: In a fight that was filled by fouling by both fighters, Brandon Rios (32-2, 23 KOs) defeated Diego Chaves (23-2, 19 KOs) by a 9th round disqualification tonight at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. The fight was halted by referee Vic Drakulich in the 9th round following a head lock. Rios said he was pocked in the eye by Chaves.

Drakulich won the fight for Rios, because he was on his to his third consecutive defeat if not for the ref disqualifying Chaves. At the time of the stoppage, Chaves was ahead on the judges’ scorecards by a 75-74 and 75-74, while the third judge had it 75-74 for Rios. If not for Drakulich taking two points away from Chaves, Rios would have been trailing on all three judges’ scorecards. Rios should be thanking Drakulich for saving his career tonight.

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