Brandon Rios Out of July 7 HBO Card, Fight With Mauricio Herrera Canceled

Former lightweight titlist Brandon Rios has pulled out of his scheduled July 7 fight against Mauricio Herrera, as Rios is suffering from elbow tendonitis and has been told to rest the arm for a month.

Rios vs Herrera was supposed to be the HBO co-feature that night from the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif., with Nonito Donaire headlining in a 122-pound unification bout with Jeffrey Mathebula. Rios (30-0-1, 22 KO) is coming off of two straight fights where he failed to make the 135-pound limit, and was slated to move up to 140 (actually, a 141-pound catchweight) for this bout.

In December, the exciting brawler gutted one out against the like-minded John Murray on the Cotto vs Margarito II card in New York, but in April, his fortunes changed considerably. Without a stand-still bruiser like Murray in front of him, Abril struggled badly against the crafty Richard Abril, and only escaped with his unbeaten record intact because of terrible, awful judging in Nevada, which saw him steal a win from the unknown Cuban.

Rios had previously been scheduled to face Yuriorkis Gamboa on that date on HBO, but Gamboa pulled out of the fight when time for press conferences in Miami and Los Angeles came.

We'll have to wait and see if Rios vs Herrera is rescheduled, or if the longer break means that Rios will have to take a different opponent. Top Rank doesn't have any other notable TV cards for July, as Golden Boy takes over the next three weeks on premium cable, and they've got nothing for August, really, so we're probably looking at a September return for Rios, if I were to wager a guess. September 1 and 22 are currently free nights on HBO and Showtime.