2011-02-26: Palms Casino Resort - Las Vegas, Nevada --
24-year-old Brandon "Bam Bam" Rios (27-0-1, 20 KO's) won the WBA World Lightweight title, stopping an extremely tenacious Miguel Acosta (28-4-2, 22 KO's) at 1:14 of the tenth round.
In round one, Rios incessantly stalked Acosta, as he looked for openings to unleash a violent attack. Acosta moved exceptionally well, continuously circling to his left and landing a couple of flush right-hand shots to Rios' sturdy chin.
Rios stepped up his assault in round two, landing a few grazing rights to Acosta's jaw. Toward the end of the round, Acosta caught Rios in the face with a short right uppercut.
Rios tirelessly pounced Acosta's body after absorbing a firm right hand - left hook combination from him in the third round. Rios controlled the first two minutes of action, but Acosta quickly peppered him frequently with forceful rights and wide left hooks to the head and body.
Round four was a nightmare for Rios, as Acosta nailed him numerous times with a series of thunderous right crosses and vigorous left hooks to the head.
Acosta seemed to be winning the fight comfortably behind his well-timed, blazing left jab. But, at 1:30 of round five, Rios connected with a monstrous left hook to Acosta's head. Rios, displaying minor bruising on his face, came on late in the round.
In the sixth round, Rios tagged Acosta on the jaw with a potent left hook, dropping the 32-year-old Venezuelan. However, Acosta fought back fearlessly with his slight edge in hand speed, exchanging bombs with Rios. Nevertheless, Acosta sustained cuts under both eyes and large swelling.
Both men tried to impose their will in a close, competitive seventh round. Acosta's swift hands countered the supreme power of Rios.
With Acosta trapped in the corner, Rios floored him again with a devastating overhand right - left hook combination in the eighth round. Rios' youthful energy flourished, and began to really have a major impact in the fight.
Rios kept applying heavy pressure on a gassed Acosta in the ninth round. Still, Acosta continued firing while his back was against the ropes, although he lacked the steam on his punches to significantly hurt Rios.
Finally, Rios finished a brave Acosta in round ten, sending him down to the canvas hurriedly with a left jab-right cross combination twice, following it with a left hook-right cross-left hook sequence to Acosta's head.
Tonight, Brandon Rios emerged as a star, with unlimited potential to shine even brighter. Before his bout with Rios, Miguel Acosta had a (19-0, 14 KO's) record since 2004. Rios beat a fighter of the utmost quality in Acosta. In 2007, Acosta had defeated Anges Adjaho via twelve-round split decision, stopped Urbano Antillon by TKO 9 in 2009 and knocked out Paulus Moses in round six in 2010. All of these fighters were unbeaten prior to facing Acosta.
2011-02-26: Heartland Events Center - Grand Island, Nebraska --
Antonio DeMarco (25-2-1 18 KO's) captured the WBC Silver Lightweight title with a twelve-round unanimous decision over Reyes Sanchez (20-4-1, 11 KO's) in a WBC Lightweight Eliminator. Official scores were 117-111, 116-112 and 115-113.
In the first thirty seconds of round one, DeMarco opened a large cut over Sanchez' left eye after landing a hard straight-left shot. Sanchez immediately experienced blood pouring down his face.
Again, DeMarco, a southpaw, hurt Sanchez with a straight left to the jaw in round two. Nevertheless, Sanchez applied more pressure, although he still couldn't disrupt DeMarco's rhythm.
It appeared DeMarco scored a knockdown in the third round when he connected with a straight left, however, referee Vic Drakulich ruled Sanchez had slipped. In the beginning of the round, Sanchez' cut was under control, but he started bleeding all over again by the end of the round.
DeMarco dictated the action for most of round four. Yet, Sanchez trapped DeMarco during the final twenty seconds against ropes, and landed a series of fierce body blows.
Sanchez closed the gap in round five, smothering DeMarco's punches with relentless pressure and by utilizing his left jab.
Sanchez pushed DeMarco back in the sixth round, landing overhand rights and looping left hooks in succession.
Both DeMarco and Sanchez traded a series of accurate punches in a very competitive seventh round.
In the eighth round, they picked up where they left off at the end of round seven. Sanchez threw and landed a high volume of punches in close quarters, while DeMarco retreated. Sanchez, who sported pink, gray and blond hair, took over the fight with his effective aggressiveness, never once taking a backward step.
DeMarco successfully landed many clean punches in round nine, but Sanchez was all over him. DeMarco sustained immense swelling under his left cheek, resulting from the multiple stinging right-hand shots that found the target for Sanchez.
Sanchez caught DeMarco with a low blow in round ten, but DeMarco quickly shook off the effects of it.
In the final two rounds, DeMarco and Sanchez exchanged punch-for-punch at a steady rate. DeMarco tagged Sanchez when his punches were too wide, although he was tiring. Sanchez' punches did not display the same ferocity as early in the fight, however, he was still able to efficiently close the distance between them.
While Sanchez brought a lot of pressure, he lacked the power to seriously harm DeMarco. On the other hand, DeMarco displayed a ton of heart and a very durable chin throughout the contest. Although he had to fight a great deal backing up, DeMarco managed to strike Sanchez repeatedly with many sound counter-punches, which showed on the official scorecards.
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