Brandon Rios
“I feel that (Robert Garcia) stopped it too soon. I think love got more involved than the fighter relationship. Which is understandable, I love Robert to death. But the love he had for me, I think he got too involved. Which is OK, but still, man — I’m not really mad, I’m sad the fact that I know I was above on points. I was doing really good. I was breaking him down, I was breaking him fuckin’ down.
“Yes, I was getting hit, but I think I was breaking him down, I was doing really good. Just the fact that, fuck, man, I threw a lazy jab and he caught me. What else can I say? You seen that shit. Fuck! I’m just pissed off at that shit.”
“I think I got up too quick, and maybe the corner felt I was still hurt. Of course, you get caught with a great right, of course you get hit like that, Danny’s got power. You fall and try to get back up too quick, you look wobbly. But fuck, man, I don’t know what else to say, man, he just caught me very good. It was my fault because I threw a lazy jab. I paid the consequence.”
“I felt his power, yes, he does have power. I felt his punches, but not to a point he was hurting me. I threw a lazy jab and that’s what happens. I brought it back down to my stomach like a dumbass. It was a learning experience for myself, a rookie mistake. What else can I say? But I felt I was up on points, and I felt I was winning the fight.”
“I felt great, I felt strong, I wasn’t tired or nothing like that. I felt really good, in perfect shape. I threw a lazy jab, he came over and caught me. What else can I say? I think I got up too fast. It was a rookie mistake. I’ve never been knocked down before. I got up too fast, I was still sort of wobbly, and my corner felt I was hurt. But I don’t think I was hurt, I could’ve still continued. Maybe if he would’ve knocked me down again. Then they could, ‘oh, fuck, he’s really hurt,’ and stopped it. Every warrior goes through it. Every warrior gets dropped. Look at Arturo Gatti, Micky Ward, Julio Cesar Chavez, Josesito Lopez, he’s been dropped, Maidana’s been dropped. Everybody’s been dropped. They get back up and still compete. I felt I could still compete, I was still in the game. In my heart, I was above on points. It was a really close fight. It happens, you know?”
“I’m mad because they didn’t give me the opportunity to try to finish the round. I had like, 30, 40 seconds left. That’s enough time. By the time they say break in, you could grab, move around, run around, whatever you could’ve done. It would’ve killed time. But it is what it is. It’s the corner’s decision. They made the decision they made. To me, in my heart and my mind, it was more love getting involved than just boxing-trainer. Which is good, because they love me, and they’re watching out for me, but I think that’s what happened.”
Robert Garcia
“I think Brandon was fighting a good fight. That’s Brandon’s style and he was coming in, fighting the way he normally fights. We said it before, we were hoping into the later rounds, Brandon was gonna take advantage of those rounds, and I think that’s what he was doing. But he got caught and it just happens in boxing. That’s part of boxing.”
“Right now he’s hurt because it’s a fight he didn’t want to lose. He really trained hard and he was motivated. He did everything right, and that’s what hurts the most. I do love Brandon, and I really don’t want to see him get hurt.
“I gotta go back and see the fight again. I was telling the inspectors (after the knockdown), ‘I need the fight stopped,’ and the inspectors are telling me, ‘You’re the one who has to jump in.’ But if I’m not mistaken, by the time I’d jumped in, Kenny Bayless had already stopped it.”