CARSON, CALIFORNIA — In a non-stop toe-to-toe battle of attrition, Brandon Rios (28-0, 21 KOs) proved his youth, chin and punching-power were too much for Urbano Antillon (28-3, 20 KOs), scoring a decisive and thrilling 3rd round TKO before raucous crowd at the Home Depot Center.
Picking up on their intense, nose to nose trash talk from Friday’s weigh-in, the contest started off with heavy fireworks. Each man sought to establish superiority inside by exchanging tight hooks and uppercuts. Antillon held the edge downstairs in round one, leaping in with thudding hooks from both hands that scored behind the champion’s elbows. Rios held serve upstairs, using his jab to set Antillon up for crisp, eye-catching left hooks and straight rights. Because of Antillon’s habit of leaning in when he came forward, Rios made him pay heavily with head-snapping, short uppercuts from both hands. Antillon fired back with a 30 second flurry of hooks that backed up Rios before catching a slashing right-left hook combination to conclude the round with roars of approval from the crowd.
In round two, Brandon Rios’ superior technique began to slowly take over. Rios timed left hooks through Antillon’s guard, opening blood on Urbano’s nose. But whenever Antillon got into Rios’ chest, he did well with uppercuts through Rios’ gloves and hooks to the body. The WBA champion went back to working his jab to great effect; it created just enough room for Rios to fire more straight rights and uppercuts. Antillon never stopped pressing, and his determination paid dividends at the end of the round when he stunned Rios when an overhand right and left hook.
Instead of going back to their corners, Rios and Antillon got right in each other’s faces to talk further trash and declare neither was hurt by the other’s concussive blows.
Round three started a disaster for Antillon from which he would never recover. 17 seconds in, both fighters threw right hooks simultaneously in-close with Rios’ getting there first and toppling Antillon onto his knees. The challenger got up immediately only to be pinned against the ropes by a pouncing Rios. The champ maintained pressure but didn’t get wild, placing left hooks and right uppercuts. Antillon held sparingly and tried to bomb his way out of trouble with hooks. The gamble resulted in the challenger being dropped on his face via another right hook exchange.
Antillon tried to dance, but didn’t have the coordination to get far. Although he held Rios to prevent further punishment, referee Kermit Bayless noted Antillon stagger and careen sideways into the ropes and called the fight with nine seconds remaining.
Despite Rios’ pre-fight animosity for Antillon amid claims of wife disrespect, the young champion showed his deposed foe respect after the battle. Following an embrace, Rios praised Antillon as a warrior.
“Antillon was a warrior… The bigger and stronger guy came out victorious,” he stated.
Urbano Antillon did not protest the decision, but let it be known that he would have welcomed death over what happened.
“I’m willing to get laid to rest in the ring,” he said.
Top Rank promoter Bob Arum said Marco Antonio Barrera was a potential opponent for Rios. Long-term, Arum disclosed his dream of having Rios face off against Manny Pacquiao in 2013. For his part, Rios said he wants to defend his WBA lightweight belt against all the tough fighters in and around his division.
On the undercard, Carlos Molina (19-4-2, 6 KOs) scored a mild upset on former welterweight titlist Kermit Cintron (32-4-1, 28 KOs). Cintron was making his first appearance after 14 months out the ring and it showed. Molina bullied Cintron around the ring and scored with short hooks and uppercuts throughout the bout’s 10 rounds. Cintron, showing poor balance and tentativeness, did not faze Molina whenever he did land sparing power shots. Molina’s dominance was reflected with a score of 98-92 on all three cards.
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As much as the Paul Williams-Erislandy Lara robbery pissed me off, it couldn’t completely take away my good mood from this fight. Rios and Antillon refused to fold or get punked by the other. Brandon Rios nor Urbano Antillon had any fear of getting knocked out; they were too focused on putting the other to sleep. You can’t lose as a viewer with those ingredients.
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Beats, Boxing and Mayhem 