Brandon Rios made the first defense of the WBA Lightweight championship with a third round stoppage over Urbano Antillon in what was an old school war at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California.
The two waged a war of words in the pre fight build up and both predicted a toe to toe battle and those vows were an understatement as the the two stood chest to chest and traded vicious power shots at close quarters. Rios was very effective with the uppercut and right hands while Antillon was landing some hard body/head combinations.
Rios landed a clipping right just seconds into round three that sent Antillon to the canvas. With Antillon hurt, Rios went in for the finish but Antillon just wasn’t ready to go as he fired back with guts and passion. Antillon was decked for a second time in the round when yet another clipping right caught the head of Antillon and the challenger fell face first to the canvas. Now showing a cut over his left eye, Antillon continued yet again. After the two were separated from a clinch, Antillon wobbled around the ring and referee David Mendoza stopped the bout at 2:39.
Rios, 135 lbs of Oxnard, CA is now 28-0-1 with twenty-one knockouts. Antillon, 134 1/2 lbs is now 28-3.
“We knew going in that whoever could take the best punch would win,” Rios said afterward. “Tonight I was faster and tougher for the couple of rounds we had. I had power in both hands.”
Carlos Molina scored the biggest win of his career when he took a ten round unanimous decision over former welterweight champion Kermit Cintron in a ten round Jr. Middleweight bout.
After an even first couple of rounds, Molina started to take over the fight as his aggressive style never gave Cintron an opportunity to get his engine started.
Molina had a good round five as he got his straight right hand going and just kept coming forward. On one occasion he backed Cintron up on the ropes with one of those shots. Molina set most of his shots up with jabs and double jabs. Late in the round, Cintron started to bleed from his nose.
In the next round, Molina’s work showed when Cintron started bleeding from his mouth. In round eight, Molina was relentless as he landed some hard rights and left hooks that buckled Cintron. Molina continued the assault as he continued to come forward with effective aggression.
Cintron landed his best punch of the fight when he landed a right hand with about twenty seconds remaining in the fight but Molina was undaunted and scored the upset victory.
Molina, 151 3/4 lbs of Chicago won by scores of 98-92 on all cards and is now 19-4-2. Cintron, 149 1/2 lbs of Houston, TX is now 32-4-1.
“I was never hurt, thank God,” Molina said. “I was prepared and ready. I didn’t think about [Cintron’s] ring rust. I’ve had to deal with two years of ring rust in my career. You still have to prepare to fight.”
Said Cintron: “It was a tough fight. I’ve had a lot of them. It is what it is.”