Brandon Rios Impressive in Disqualification Victory

In the 12-round WBA lightweight elimination co-main event of HBO’s “Boxing After Dark,” (Gamboa-Salido), Memphis, TENN., fighter Anthony Peterson (30-1, 20KOs) was his own worst enemy in his HBO debut as he lost by disqualification and was floored once by Oxnard, California’s “Bam Bam” Brandon Rios (25-0-1, 17KOs), who looked sharp.

Rios came out stalking forward floating out jabs and right uppercuts while Peterson was on the move circling to his left using his own jab with lefts and rights to the torso of Rios. The first round saw the fighters clinch on numerous occasions and at :50 seconds of the period Peterson went around Brandon’s high guard and caught him with a clean right hook to the side of the jaw in an opening round that flowed at a good pace.

In the 2nd, Rios started to establish himself a little landing a right uppercut followed by a right hook to the jaw line of his adversary. Moments later Rios connected on three more right uppercuts in succession that had Anthony retaliating as they had a good exchange to the heads of each other. At 1:15 Rios landed a nice left – right to the kisser then blasted Peterson with another right hook – left uppercut as Anthony countered with a left hook to the head, and so far the action was good. Towards the end of the round both men were fighting on the inside giving as good as they were taking and neither man was forgetting the body in a close hard to judge round.

They came out slugging in the 3rd and at 2:24 Peterson connected with a borderline body shot that Rios countered with a hard right uppercut – left hook then followed with another hard right uppercut that had Peterson looking to hold onto his opponent. They continued to fight on the inside to Rios’s delight as he was landing more frequently with the harder strikes. At 1:12 Peterson landed a nice double left hook from the body to the head then some more clinching followed by a double left hook from Rios to the head as well. Peterson was complaining about being hit on the back of the head but Rios just kept pace landing a triple jab along with some left hooks and straight rights. Peterson was fighting Rios’s fight going toe-to-toe and at the end of the round both boxers connected with a few thudding shots to each others heads.

The 4th started with the same pattern as the contestants continued to go tit-for-tat on the inside until the 1:53 mark when Rios exacted a left hook to the mouth that sent Peterson stumbling backwards hurt. Rios followed up with some good lefts and rights to the dome as Peterson fought back but Rios landed a punishing left hook, which was his most successful punch through out the fight, that hurt Peterson again who persisted on staying on the inside instead of moving away which allowed Rios to hurt him some more to the head. Peterson showed grit and mettle staying in the pocket and trading but was absorbing major punishment as his corner became increasingly agitated and concerned at the fight plan their pupil was employing.

Peterson’s corner was calling for movement and boxing, so in the 5th, Peterson came out moving but was not boxing. For the first half of the stanza Peterson was able to avoid damage with his lateral movement as Rios was stalking like a blood-thirsty vampire looking for a quench. Rios closed the distance for the second half and they resumed trading punches inches from one another and at :13 seconds Peterson landed a quick double left hook – right-hand three punch combination up top but was countered with a Rios left hook that floored Peterson who took the eight count and who’s eyes said he was badly hurt and alarmed. The bell rang before Rios could get another crack at his wounded prey Peterson, who staggered back to his corner tripping into the ropes.

In-between the 5th and 6th rounds, Peterson’s corner repeatedly told him he was blowing it and pleaded with him to turn it around. The first minute of the 6th saw both pugilist staying consistent as they traded blows in the center of the squared circle then at around 2:00 Peterson connected with a left – right that was way below the waist line prompting referee Russell Mora to warn Anthony to keep them up. Moments later Peterson hit Rios real low again with two left hooks to the jewels making for about the fifth clear low blow, prompting Rios to come back with a low blow to the hip bone of Peterson in an act of small retribution followed up by a hard right-hand to the rib-cage of Anthony who was holding onto Rios. Seconds later Peterson landed two more ridiculously low blows and Russell Mora halted the action to give Rios time to recover but surprisingly did not take a point from Peterson who thoroughly deserved it, but did tell him that it was the last time and that next time he would take a point. Like a fat kid drawn to cake, :15 seconds later Peterson zeroed in on another left hook to the bread basket that hurt Rios who doubled over in pain and then confidently walked back and forth regaining his composure as referee Russell Mora said, “talk to me,” and Rios responded animatedly, “I’m good Baby,” like he just wanted to resume the scrap ASAP. A point was taken from Peterson then they resumed fighting and seconds later, yep you guessed it, another left-hand low blow that had Peterson agitated as if he hadn’t been hitting Rios with despicably low blows all evening. Russell Mora took another point making that two one-point deductions against Anthony Peterson in a foul filled 6th by the Tennessee native.

Rios showed a lot of class and the mentality of a pro, never complaining about all the received fouls. The low blows seemed to work for Peterson because after the second point was taken Anthony began to rally at the end of the 6th and starting the 7th, putting together combination’s with both hands on Rios who had slowed after all the fouls. At 1:21 Rios landed a hard right uppercut that was countered by a left hook to the waist by Peterson that was borderline. Around the minute mark Rios began finding his range again with punishing right uppercuts and left hooks upstairs and Peterson was coming back with combination’s of his own making for some good back-and-forth action. At :15 seconds Rios stumbled Peterson with a right – left combo followed by another right – left combo that saw Peterson react with yet another left hook low blow that hurt Rios causing him to buckle a little but the referee did nothing about it, so Peterson closed in and landed another left hook low blow and when the bell rang ending the round, referee Russell Mora waved off the action disqualifying Peterson in a well deserved move giving the brawler “Bam Bam” Brandon Rios the disqualification victory where all the judges had Rios ahead with scores of 68-62 across the board. Brandon Rios improves to 25-0-1, 17KOs, in a hard fought impressive win, while Anthony Peterson suffered his first defeat falling to 30-1, 20KOs.

“You know I give it to Peterson he is a very talented guy, quick and everything, but you know, I did not feel his power,” stated Rios to commentator Max Kellerman in the post-fight interview. When asked by Kellerman why he did not complain about all the fouls, Rios stated, “you know, it’s part of boxing, it’s not my job, that’s why we have a third man in the ring.”

“Anybody at 135, “Zorita”, Humberto Soto, if he is man enough, stop picking your opponents and fight me! Marquez, anybody, any of the top five, anybody with the belt at 135lb.” was Brandon’s response when asked by Kellerman, “what’s next.”

Peterson relayed that he did not remember hitting Rios low and that he would have to assess the tape before he could come to a conclusion on that situation.

All Photos by Top Rank Boxing/Chris Farina