LAS VEGAS –Timothy Bradley promised a victory. He also promised a whole new animal.
He delivered on the victory Saturday night. But he didn’t have to be a new species. The old one — the Bradley of a few years ago — was enough.
A Bradley with resurrected skills and a new trainer, Teddy Atlas in his corner overwhelmed a shopworn Brandon Rios, who had neither the skill nor the energy to counter a disciplined jab, side-to-side movement and — in the end – a left hook.
The hook dropped Rios in the ninth round in what would be the first salvo in his imminent demise. Seconds after Rios got off his hands and knees, Bradley landed two body shots, first up the middle and then one to Rios’ side.
Rios didn’t get up this time. He was done, a loser by knockout at 2:49 of the ninth.
For Bradley, it played out exactly as planned. Atlas wanted him to be patient. He said he wanted Bradley to take a piece out of Rios, round by agonizing round. If there was a new animal in Bradley, it was a piranha, Atlas said.
“I just did what Teddy said,’’ said Bradley (33-1-1, 13 KOs), who put himself back in line for rematch with Manny Pacquiao, perhaps in April.
Speculation about Pacquiao is is bound to be rampant for the next couple of weeks. But jubilant Arum had no doubt that Bradley had re-emerged as one of Top Rank’s stars.
“The best Bradley I’ve ever seen,’’ Arum said.
The same couldn’t be said for Rios, whose career appeared to be at an end.
“I think I’m done,’’ Rios (33-3-1, 24 KOs) said.
Rios might have been weakened by a battle to make weight.
Two tenths of a pound aren’t much, but they were enough to make a weigh-in last an hour longer than it should have Friday.
Rios stepped on the scale once, stripped off his shorts behind a strategically placed sheet and stepped on the scale again. Once, twice, shorts on, shorts off and he was still two-tenths heavier than the 147-pound mandatory for his welterweight bout Saturday night against Timothy Bradley at Thomas & Mack Center.
For the next 60 minutes, Rios found a bathroom, stood around a hallway outside of a ballroom at The Wynn and then headed back to the scale. Once, twice, shorts on, shorts off and this time the two tenths were gone, presumably flushed from the proceedings.
Actually, Rios said he could have saved everybody a lot of time had he been allowed an extra minute or two. In so many words and more than a few expletives, he said he was trying to get rid of the two-tenths when he was called off the stool and onto the scale.
“There was no drama,’’ Rios said then. “I’m ready.’’
Rios’ face looked a little drawn after the weigh-in. He’s no stranger to off and on the scale controversies. As a lightweight, he missed weight twice. The move up to welter was supposed to make things easier.
But Rios has never been about easy.
Not easy on himself or anybody else, especially after a loss that could force him to flush a lot more than just two-tenths.
Lomachenko dominates in 10th-round KO
It was the Vasyl Lomachenko show.
The ring became Lomachenko’s stage for an almost singular performance in a one-sided victory Saturday night that turned an overmatched Romulo Koasicha into a prop that allowed the Ukrainian to showcase versatility, brilliance and showmanship at Thomas & Mack Center.
Lomachenko (5-1, 3 KOs) did whatever he wanted, including a left-handed body shot that dropped Koasicha (25-5, 15 KOs) and mercifully ended the bout in a knockout at 2:35 of the tenth round.
The former Olympian, history’s most decorated amateur and the WBO’s current featherweight champion, threw punches from countless angles. He would step to one side and land a head-rocking blow. He’d step to the opposite land with equal power. At times, he would drop both hand and mock Koasicha as though he were a mere straight man in a comedy routine.
He got the last laugh, too.
Murata gains further experience, stays unbeaten
Ryota Murata has an Olympic gold medal and big-time Japanese sponsors. His resume is impressive, yet incomplete. Experience is missing.
Murata’s task at filling that void continued Saturday night on the Brandon Rios-Timothy Bradley undercard at Thomas & Mack Center with an eighth victory in as many fights in his short pro career.
Murata (8-0, 5 KOs), a middleweight from Tokyo, relied on advantages in reach and strength to score a 99-91, 98-92, 97-93 decision over Gunnar Jackson (21-7-3, 8 KOs), an undersized New Zealand fighter who landed a few uppercuts, yet little else over an uneventful 10 rounds.
Featherweight Marriaga dominant in taking unanimous decision
Colombian featherweight Miguel Marriaga flashed his world -class credentials early and often with a patient and précise performance for which there was no argument.
No defense either.
At least, Guillermo Avila had none.
Marriaga (21-1, 18 KOs) began to rock Avila (14-5, 11 KOs) with solid rights, especially in the third round, to take control of an eight round-bout for a unanimous decision over the Mexican Saturday in the third fight on the Brandon Rios-Timothy Bradley card at Thomas & Mack Center.
Michael Reed scored seventh-round TKO
Power and angles were a double-edged combo that Maryland junior-welterweight Michael Reed employed relentlessly.
Ruthlessly, too.
In the end, all of it overwhelmed Rondale Hubbert (10-4-1,6 KOs), a Minneapolis fighter who was knocked down early in the seventh and left hanging on the ropes from a succession of punches from Reed (17-0, 10 KOs) midway through the round of the second bout on the Brandon Rios-Timothy Bradley card Saturday at Thomas & Mack Center. Referee Kenny Bayless, stepped in, ending it at 1:09 of the seventh.
One punch opened show.
Egidijus Kavaliauskas threw it.
One minute into the first round of the opening bout on the Timothy Bradley-Brandon Rios card, Kavaliauskas (10-0, 9 KOs), a two-time Olympian from Lithuania and welterweight prospect in trainer Robert Garcia gym, landed an overhand right, knocking out Jake Giuriceo (17-5-1, 4 KOs) of Struthers, Ohio.
