Ranking the 10 Best Knockouts of Brandon Rios' Career

Later this month, former lightweight world champion Brandon Rios gets the biggest opportunity of his career when he faces international superstar Manny Pacquiao on pay-per-view from Macau, China.

It's no mystery why Top Rank tapped Brandon Rios for this spot. He fights with an all-action style that brings fans to their feet. He's got the power to end fights and is willing to take risks to use that power.

He might not have a great chance of beating Manny Pacquiao, but he will definitely make an exciting fight. 

Rios has compiled a professional record of 31-1-1 with 23 KOs. A look at his top 10 knockouts provides a good brief outline for his career and how he has arrived at this major crossroad in his career.   

10. Raul Montes by Round 3 TKO on July 23, 2004

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This fight was Brandon Rios' professional debut. Rios had a pretty nice run as an amateur fighter as a teenager, but as he told me when I interviewed him before his rematch with Mike Alvarado last March, when he failed to qualify for the 2004 Olympics, he figured he had reached the end of the road in boxing. 

"I didn't really think I'd be a professional," he said. "I was thinking about going home and getting a job."

Instead, Rios and his father were approached by Robert Garcia. Today, Garcia is the reigning Trainer of the Year and the handler of multiple world champions. In 2004, he was a former world champion himself, but still untested as a trainer. 

"I was Robert's first guy," Rios said proudly when I asked him about training at the famed Robert Garcia Academy. No doubt this first stoppage was a big night for the young trainer-fighter team. 

9. Ricky Ponce by Round 1 KO on January 28, 2005

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This was Rios' third professional fight and his third stoppage. But it was his first straight knockout and his first time stopping a fight in the opening round.

Knocking out a fighter like Ricky Ponce is no major accomplishment for a world championship-level fighter. But anybody who shows up early for the preliminary fights knows how dramatic and emotional these kind of quick knockouts are for a young fighter just starting out. 

8. Alvin Brown by Round 2 TKO on March 14, 2008

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Alvin Brown is exactly the sort of journeyman Brandon Rios should have been expected to steamroll. Rios had been a professional for nearly four years and was starting to gather momentum. He came in with a perfect 15-0 record. 

But Brown was a far more experienced fighter and a man nearly old enough to be Rios' father. These can be dangerous fights for a young fighter on the way up, especially if he has grown overly confident. 

Rios took care of business quickly on this occasion. 

7. Sandro Marcos by Round 2 TKO on July 25, 2008

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Sandro Marcos was just another journeyman in the way of Rios' growing career in July 2008. But this fight is special for being Rios' Las Vegas debut. 

Las Vegas is the capital of the contemporary boxing world, and this was a major boxing weekend in Sin City. The day after Rios knocked out Marcos in the Hard Rock, Antonio Margarito stopped Miguel Cotto at the MGM Grand. 

On this weekend when so many major boxing people were in Vegas, Rios made the most of his opportunity. He battered Marcos, knocking him down once in the first and three times in the second. 

6. Oscar Meza by Round 5 TKO on May 16, 2009

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Less than a year after his Las Vegas debut, Brandon Rios was back in Nevada again. But this time, his opponent was another promising contender instead of a trial horse.

Oscar Meza came into this fight with an 18-2 record and 12 straight wins, including a majority-decision victory over Jorge Paez Jr.

This TKO definitely bumped Rios up the food chain in the lightweight division.  

5. Jorge Luis Teron by Round 3 TKO on December 3, 2011

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This fight was for the vacant North American Boxing Federation lightweight title. Jorge Luis Teron entered with a record of 23-1-1. 

In today's alphabet-soup boxing universe, minor belts like the NABF ultimately mean very little in terms of the division picture. But to the fighters who win them, the titles are major milestones and a critical aspect of getting their ticket punched as they move up the ranks. 

4. John Murray by Round 11 TKO on December 3, 2011

This fight occurred on the undercard for Miguel Cotto's rematch with Antonio Margarito, one of the major boxing events of the year. It was a very important step in Rios' development as an attraction for Top Rank.

The highly animated Rios grabbed camera time as a member of Margarito's training camp during the HBO 24/7 segments, and his fight with Murray was an entertaining brawl. 

Rios gave better than he took for 11 rounds, but he still took plenty. Nevertheless, he wore a smile that projected to the back rows of Madison Square Garden all fight long.  

Watching in the media overflow section, I wrote in my reporter's notebook: "Brandon Rios really, really likes to fight." 

3. Urbano Antillon by Round 3 KO on July 9, 2011

This was Brandon Rios' first defense of the WBA lightweight title. Things got heated at the press conference, where Rios claimed Antillon insulted his wife. 

The two engaged in a dogfight from the opening bell. Antillon was a warrior and gave as good as he got for the first two rounds.

But Rios' heavier, quicker hands and better defense gave him a big edge in a war of attrition. In Round 3, he flat-out beat Antillon up, knocking him down twice. Antillon's ability to get back to his feet was courageous, but thankfully, the referee jumped in quickly as Antillon stumbled like a drunk after last call.  

2. Miguel Acosta by Round 10 TKO on February 26, 2011

This is the win that made Brandon Rios the WBA lightweight champion. It was an extremely entertaining, action-packed fight that really launched Rios as a big attraction in the sport. 

Rios stalked and pounded at Miguel Acosta all night long, but Acosta scored heavily in return with counters. 

"Acosta hit hard," Rios remembered, when I interviewed him last March. "That was the kind of fight I love to have."

Rios had already knocked Acosta down twice when he knocked him out in the corner during Round 10. 

1. Mike Alvarado by Round 7 TKO on October 13, 2012

More than any other performance in his career, this Round 7 TKO of Mike Alvarado is the one that earned Brandon Rios his shot at Manny Pacquiao later this month. 

There were tremendous expectations for this fight going in. Rios and Alvarado were both undefeated, all-action fighters with fight-ending power.

Boxing fans and media expected a Fight of the Year candidate, and that's what Rios and Alvarado delivered. 

I had Alvarado up on my own card when Rios stopped him, but Rios had scored heavily in each round. When referee Pat Russell stopped the fight in Round 7, Alvarado still had his guard up, but he had stopped firing back. 

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