On a busy night of action at Madison Square Garden in New York on Saturday night, it was Brandon ‘Bam Bam’ Rios that stole the show, stopping the tough Englishman John Murray in the eleventh after a hard, gruelling fight. Also in action, Delvin Rodriguez scored a win against old-foe Pawel Wolak, improving on their draw last time out to defeat the New Jersey-based Pole on points.

In the chief-supporting bout to the Cotto-Margarito main event, Brandon Rios (29-0-1, 22KO’s) should have been defending his WBA lightweight title for the second time, but failed to make the weight and lost his title on the scales. It didn’t affect his performance however, and looked impressive taking apart John Murray (31-2, 18KO’s) overwhelming and punishing the Manchester-based fighter, forcing him to be saved by the referee in the eleventh round.

Rios looked the much bigger of the pair when they met in the center of the ring, and although both men are known as pressure fighters Rios has an excellent fundamental skill set and can box from range or fight on the inside just as effectively. Early on Murray seemed to be a little surprised by the sheer strength and power of Rios, but did well to get himself into the fight.

Head-to-head for long periods of time, the two fighters never stopped punching but it was Rios who threw the more cultured shots, landing uppercuts with both hands and turning Murray’s face into a bloody mess. Murray, for all his worth, tried to stay with Rios but his defense let him down continuously. Taking flush shots all night long, Murray had to eat several punches of his own to land one and although admirable, was always going to end in misery.

Despite a great eagerness to fight, Murray was getting picked apart by Rios as the fight went on, and although he landed some good shots himself started to look like a beaten fighter. With swollen eyes and a bloody nose, Murray never stopped coming but he was walking right into the hands of Rios, who pummelled him with shots for round after round.

Both fighters showed great chins during the fight, and both took punches that could easily have floored other men, but eventually Murray had to submit to Rios superior power. In the eleventh round, when Murray was already looking tired, Rios scored a right hand that totally robbed Murray of his senses. Knowing he had an opportunity, Rios poured on the pressure with both hands, chasing a flagging Murray around the ring to land his blows. It was all a bit much for Murray, and the referee stepped into save him from further punishment.

It’s been rumoured that Rios would now face Cuban super-featherweight titleholder Yuriorkis Gamboa, but seeing as the Oxnard, California fighter failed to make the 135lb lightweight limit, seems a little less unlikely now. Murray can hold his head high and be proud of his performance, but will know in the back of his mind that he was beaten by the better man on the night.

In what was billed as a potential fight of the year, Dominican junior-middleweight Delvin Rodriguez (26-5-3, 14KO’s) improved hugely on his first fight with Pawel Wolak (29-2-1, 19KO’s), a ten-round draw, to win almost every round with smooth boxing and superior workrate.

Wolak, who facially resembles fellow Pole Tomasz Adamek, is so uncultured and awkward that it’s hard to see how he even got to this point in his career. Last time out against Rodriguez he had some success, especially when pushing him backwards and letting his hands go, but this time allowed Rodriguez to dictate the fight from the outside, using a rangy jab to keep him off-balance as he stumbled forward like a man trying to find the light switch in the dark.

If Wolak had have worked more it may have been a different story, but instead he stalked Rodriguez all night whilst being frustratingly inactive with his punches. At one point it looked as if he had decided to make Rodriguez tired by letting him punch himself out on his face, while he kindly walked straight into the punches for good measure.

It was a poor performance from Wolak and wont have won any new fans with this fight. Rodriguez simply did what he had to do for ten rounds and when the scores were  announced it was no surprise to hear he had won virtually every session on all three judges cards.

Also on the card, undefeated Philadelphian welterweight Mike Jones (26-0, 19KO’s) made it 26 wins in a row with a lopsided unanimous twelve-round decision over Argentinian veteran Sebastian Lujan (38-6-2, 24KO’s).

Although the big hitting Jones couldn’t get to Lujan, he still won almost every minute of every round with crisp, sharp boxing that left the Argentinian with no answer.

Big uppercuts and right hands hurt Lujan repeatedly but Jones just couldn’t quite find the key and had to settle for victory on the cards. It was a decent enough performance from Jones and he’ll soon be ready for bigger and better things.

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