Rios captures NABF championship with third-round win over Teron

McALLEN — Brandon Rios of Oxnard, Calif., captured the NABF lightweight title with a third-round technical knockout of Jorge Luis Teron of the Bronx, N.Y., in the Top Rank Boxing show’s main event Saturday at the new McAllen Convention Center.

Rios (24-0-1, 17 knockouts) prevailed by setting a furious pace beginning almost from the outset. Ranked ninth in the world, Rios is now expected to improve his status among the top contenders of other more prestigious boxing organizations such as the WBC.

Teron (23-2-1, 15 KOs) entered Saturday’s bout that was televised live internationally by Fox Sports Net and Fox Sports en Español ranked 12th in the world.

The title fight was scheduled for 10 rounds, but it had barely just begun when Rios sized up his opponent and began to unleash his fury. During the third round, Rios knocked out Teron’s mouthpiece and sent him into the ropes with a viscious left hook before a couple more strong punches ended the match via a TKO at the 1:13 mark of the round.

"I was taking my time at the start of the fight, but then I began to see that I was hurting him, so I started thinking that I could end it early, and I did," said Rios, who describes himself as a Mexican warrior. "I tried to put more and more pressure on him, and it paid off. I’ve been training hard, and tonight was a fun night for me. It was great to win because he came into the fight as a hot prospect just like me. It was one of my best fights."

In the 10-round semi-main event matching super bantamweights Juan Ruiz (23-6, seven KOs) of Newhall, Calif., and Tomas Villa (21-6-4, 13 KOs) of Midland, Texas, Villa prevailed when Ruiz was disqualified at the 2:18 mark of the 10th round for repeatedly leaning on his opponent and failing to break his clinches.

On the undercard, Top Rank rising stars Roberto Marroquin (12-0, nine KOs), a super bantamweight from Dallas, and Jerry Belmontes (11-0, three KOs), a featherweight from Corpus Christi, each won their fights.

Marroquin defeated Robert Guillen (5-5-3, one KO) of Glendale, Ariz., on a first-round TKO, and Belmontes prevailed over Morris Chule (7-9-1, seven KOs) of Kenya by way of a six-round unanimous decision.

Also on the undercard, super lightweight Humberto "Tito" Trinidad Ramos (11-0, seven KOs) of Mission triumphed on a six-round split decision over Gilberto Elizondo (5-3-1, two KOs) of San Antonio. The judges scored it 58-56, 56-58, 58-56 for Ramos.

Roy Hess writes for Valley Freedom Newspapers. You can reach him via e-mail at rhess@brownsvilleherald.com