Brandon "Bam Bam" Rios (27-0-1, 19 KO's) proved himself worthy as a champion with his dethroning of the now former WBA lightweight champion Miguel Acosta (28-4-2, 22 KO's) in spectacular fashion at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas last night.
The unbeaten Rios took the WBA lightweight
Easily the toughest opponent Rios has faced, Acosta was intent on not letting the young and strong Rios dictate the fight, a strategy that worked for the first four rounds where Acosta threw combinations, stiff jabs, and boxed beautifully.
The fifth round saw Rios finally finding his way inside, and he took control in the sixth with a solid left hook followed by a stiff jab sending Acosta to the canvas for the first time of the evening.
Acosta was in trouble once more in the eighth round, floored again by a barrage of punches from the now sensing victory Rios, who's inability to cut-off the ring was probably the one negative to be found in his performance last night.
The tenth round saw Acosta trapped in his own corner where another group of solid punches forced referee Joe "I'm firm but fair" Cortez, who was oddly out of position and unable to clearly see the devastation Rios was administering on Acosta, to stop the fight at the 1:14 mark.
The action was non-stop from the opening bell, and to his credit, Miguel Acosta proved why he was the WBA lightweight champion with a crowd pleasing, solid, and determined performance.
The undercard was just as exciting as unbeaten featherweight Roberto Marroqin (19-0, 14 KO's) got a eight round unanimous decision over veteran Gilberto Sanchez-Leon (28-9-3, 10 KO's).
Former Notre Dame light heavyweight boxing champion Mike Lee (4-0, 3 KO's) stopped thirty one year-old Pablo Gomez (1-3-1, 1 KO) of Denver in at the 2:42 mark of the first round after being hurt by a crunching overhand right from Gomez early on.
Lee then landed a beautiful right hook that Gomez unbelievably withstood, and made it back to his feet before taking another solid right hand that ended any plans of an upset, forcing the fight to be stopped.
As expected, Denver's Terry Buterbaugh (6-5-1) engaged Antony Lenk (10-1, 5 KO's) in an entertaining and action-packed, toe-to-toe battle of super lightweights scheduled for six rounds.
It took everything Lenk had to finally stop the hard-nosed and crowd pleasing Denver fan favorite Buterbaugh in the closing seconds of the final round, after dropping him in the fifth.
Stephen Johnson feature writes for INSIDE BOXING.com, UNTIL THE NEXT ROUND.com, and co-hosts INSIDE BOXING LIVE!
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