Santa Ana native Ronny Rios (33-3 16KO’s) began his professional career winning his first 22 fights, becoming a high-ranking prospect in boxing. Rios suffered his first defeat when he was stopped in the fifth round by Robinson Castellanos back in 2014. Rios bounced back from his defeat tremendously beating Puerto Rico’s Jayson Velez, who was undefeated at the time via unanimous decision to become the WBC Silver Champion. Rios would get a crack at WBC World Champion Ray Vargas but would lose on the scorecards. Two fights later, Ronny came face to face with retirement when he was stopped for the second time in the 6th round by Azat Hovhannisyan. Rios was done with boxing… So we thought.
The Comeback:
Since returning to the ring in 2019, Rios has won four straight fights (three via KO) but no win was bigger than defeating Diego De La Hoya. The bad blood between the two fighters was seen when they faced off for the first time. Rios was the underdog going into the fight but shocked everyone when he forced De La Hoya to quit, becoming the new NABF Super Bantamweight Champion.
The Title Shot:
The WBA committee has ordered the mandatory fight between Ronny Rios and Super Bantamweight Super Champion Murodjon Akhmadaliev (9-0 7KO’s) who is coming off a TKO victory against Japanese fighter Ryosuke Iwasa. The negotiations for the fight started April 6th and are set to end May 6th.
When asked about the likelihood of the fight happening Rios said “I am very confident the fight will happen because I have the upmost confidence in MJ and his promoter to do the right thing and give me the opportunity to fight for the titles”. Rios coach Hector Lopez stated “We are looking for a September or October date.” When asked about how he felt about the second opportunity at a world title Lopez said, “I am very happy that Ronny is getting a second chance at a world title. This version of Ronny is much better than the first time around.” Rios also stated “Honestly I don’t care where it happens, as long as it happens that’s all I care about. This opportunity is different because I’m at a different stage of my career now than I was before. I feel more mature and hungry now than I have ever felt before.”
Rios will look to kill two birds with one stone by becoming Santa Ana’s first world champion and unified champion if the fight gets the green light.
