Brandon Rios Back in the Win Column with a Knockout Over Aaron Herrera

By Joshua “City” Brewer

Premier Boxing Champions was back in action live from Lancaster, California yesterday. Here’s how Ringside Report called the action.

Brandon “Bam Bam” Rios, 34-3-1, 25 KO’s Vs Aaron Herrera, 32-7-1, 21 KO’s

The main event featured a familiar face in Brandon “Bam Bam” Rios as he made his return from a short boxing retirement following his 2015 technical knockout loss to Timothy “Desert Storm” Bradley.

Round 1: Rios landed a heavy right hook that was the first significant punch of the fight. Herrera landed a good shot of his own. Both fighters started to exchanged as the round went on. After the minute mark, each traded combinations. Rios seemed to hurt Herrera with a big left hook near the end of the round but Herrera answered with a shot of his own in which Rios smiled as though to acknowledge that he felt it. 10/9 Rios

Round 2: Herrera showed more movement while leading with the jab to start the second. Rios wasn’t able to get his feet set in order to land a good shot. Rios caught Herrera with a good left hook as he was backed to the ropes. Both fighters again started to trade punches thereafter though the harder shots were coming from Rios. Both fighters closed the round landing crisp, hard shots though Rios landed in higher quantity. 10/9 Rios

Round 3: Rios picked up where he left off in the third and started to land even more clean shots, though Herrera showed some resistance halfway through the round and even seemed to get Rios’ attention with a solid combination. Rios continued to stay in tight and was able to land solid right hands that snapped Herrera’s head back. Herrera continued to fight fire with fire and saw a little bit of success, though not enough shots were thrown by comparison to Rios.

Round 4: Both fighters exchanged good combinations early in the fourth. Herrera landed a hard right hook near the two minute mark as he looked to show that he still was ready to fight. He unloaded with another two punch combination to the head thereafter. Herrera was able to land a four punch combination of left hooks near the minute mark of the round. Rios, though, continued to press forward keeping his head in Herrera’s chest and closed the round with solid shots of his own. 10/9 Herrera

Round 5: Both fighters continued with high paced action in the fifth as each continued to exchange punches. Rios landed the harder shots of the exchanges. After the minute mark Rios started to throw more mixes of hooks and uppercuts looking to switch things up on Herrera. Herrera continued to swing though he missed widely on some punches. 10/9 Rios

Round 6: Rios continued to apply pressure with his inside work to start the sixth round. Herrera didn’t back down, but started to take more and more unanswered punishment. Rios caught Herrera with a solid left hook near the minute mark and Herrera started to back up as he looked visibly hurt. As the round closed Rios was able to pin Herrera to the ropes and tee off. They then started to exchange once again as the bell sounded. 10/9 Rios

Round 7: Rios landed a good combination to started the seventh capped with a solid left hook. Herra caught Rios with a very hard hook that got his attention, though Rios continued to press on the inside. Herrera was able to land three solid, unanswered shots at the halfway point of the round. Rios continued to work and dropped Herrera with a hard body shot. Herrera wasn’t able to answer the count.

Rios officially got the stoppage at the 2:11 mark of the seventh. Rios looked okay for his first return fight against a guy tailor made for him. He did take a lot of shots though he didn’t look visibly damaged. He’ll definitely need to continue to work on his game as the top crop at 147 may be too much for him at this point in his career. He could have success at 147 if he continues to temper his expectations.

Mario Barrios, 19-0, 11 KO’s Vs Jose Luis Rodriguez, 21-10, 12 KO’s

The co-main event featured highly touted Mario Barrios in his third junior welterweight, 140 pounds, fight.

Round 1: Barrios started out with a nice left and right hook early in the round. He followed up with another three punch combination. Barrios looked every bit of his 6’0 frame and controlled from the outside forcing the shorter Rodriguez to leap in trying to land hooks. Barrios was able to counter with good left hooks. Rodriquez was able to land a shot to the body of Barrios but was countered shortly after with a couple of good shots that he seemed to feel. Rodriguez close the round with a good counter of his own. 10/9 Barrios

Round 2: Barrios, leading with his jab, landed several clean shots early in round two. Barrios continued to use his outside range while constantly landing his left hook as Rodriguez came in. Barrios was able to land a solid left hook to the body near the minute mark and followed up with more body shots as he seemingly hurt Rodriguez. Rodriguez was able to rebound with a few body shots of his own and closed the round with a good flurry topped off by a clean left hook. 10/9 Barrios.

Round 3: Barrios started off actively with a combination in the third. He was able to follow this with good body shots forcing Rodriguez to open up more on his own. Barrios landed a solid right hook midway through the round that got the crowd’s attention. Barrios was able to land even more combinations as the round waned on and was started to clearly put distance between him and Rodriguez on the cards as well as in punch volume. 10/9 Barrios

Round 4: Barrios started to let his hands go more in the fourth. He was able to land several unanswered shots though it wasn’t because of a lack of trying from Rodriguez. After a minute, Barrios started to land with solid body shots. Barrios really started to show his prowess as he landed about four unanswered uppercuts near the end of the round. Rodriguez kept moving forward throughout but was unable to land anything significant and started to looked as though he was feeling the effects of the body shots. 10/9 Barrios

Round 5: Rodriguez missed several wide shots as he came in to start round five. Barrios landed a good, solid uppercut on Rodriguez that snapped his head. Rodriguez started to actually throw more through the halfway point of the round but looked sloppier. Barrios landed another set of solid uppercut combinations to the body and head as he continued to invest in bodywork. Barrios continued at a fairly decent pace of shots thrown up to this point and was surely landing all of the significant shots of the fight. 10/9 Barrios

Round 6: Barrios continued to use his distance in the sixth though Rodriguez continue with his forward march. Barrios also continued to counter the widely missed shots that Rodriguez was throwing, following a similar script from previous rounds. Both fighters again closed throwing punches but Barrios was essentially in control as had previously been the case throughout the fight. 10/9 Barrios

Round 7: Barrios landed a good Right cross at the beginning of the seventh. Barrios was able to land a solid combination as Rodriguez backed to the ropes and Barrios dropped Rodriguez with a huge left hook that had him down and unable to answer the count, thus showing that his body work had paid off.

The KO came at the 00:37 second mark of the seventh for Barrios. Barrios looked good in this fight and showed that he has good stamina as he was able to continue to land strong shot as the fight continued on.

Jose Miguel Borrego, 13-0, 12 KO’s Vs Kevin Watts, 11-2, 4 KO’s

Round 1: Both fighters felt each other out. Wats was using his jab more and throwing shots early on. Borrego chose to be more reserved through the first minute. Watts landed a good left hook at the same time as one thrown by Borrego. The two fighters had a clash of heads near the 30 second mark of the round, though no cut appeared. Both fighters closed out the round throwing shots but it was a fairly inactive round for Borrego. 10/9 Watts

Round 2: Watts started round two trying to establish his jab and landed a short right uppercut on Borrego. Watts backed Borrego to the ropes and and started unloading with combinations as Borrego tried to exchange back as he urged Watts on. Later in the round Borrego again found himself backed to the ropes. Watts landed a solid combination with about 12 seconds left and ensured the round was his. 10/9 Watts

Round 3: Similar start to the third as previous rounds. Good body shot combination landed by Watts around the first minute mark of the round. Shortly thereafter he landed a solid right before the two fighters got into an exchange where they both landed. Both fighters continued to open up but Watts landed the cleaner shots. Around the 30 second mark each fighter started to land to the body more though Watts still had the volume edge. This was the most active round of the fight thus far for Borrego as he seemed to become more comfortable. 10/9 Watts

Round 4: Watts started out the fourth as the busier fighter, which had become a common theme. Watts was able to back Watts to the ropes and throw shots while not allowing Borrego the opportunity for return. During an exchange near the 1:30 mark, Borrego landed a solid combination that hurt Watts for the first time in the fight. Borrego continued to step up the firepower though Watts remained game until taking a heavy right hand that dropped him. He looked visibly hurt but answered the count on wobbly legs. Borrego then followed up with a number of unanswered shots that pushed Watts to the ropes before he was dropped once again. Referee Jack Riess stepped in to call off the fight.

The fight was officially stopped at the 42 seconds mark of the fourth round giving Jose Miguel Borrego his 13th straight victory and 11th straight knockout. Borrego’s started slow but definitely showed that he has power.

There was also a televised fight in which Roberto Marroquin 26-4-1, 19 KO’s defeated Jonathan Perez, 37-19, 29 KO’s, via knockout in the fourth round. Marroquin dropped Perez with a huge left hook to finish the fight.

This was another solid PBC card and there are several other good matchups lined up to finish out the months of June and July.

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