Bryan Acosta Wins WBA Continental Americas Featherweight Championship With Unanimous Decision Over Ronny Rios

Mexican warrior Bryan “Latino” Acosta (21-2, 8 KOs) returned to the win column by grinding out a fan-friendly 10-round unanimous decision over 36-year-old longtime contender Ronny Rios (34-6, 17 KOs) to win the WBA Continental Americas Featherweight Championship.

Fighting in the 10-round main event of ProBoxTV’s “The Contender Series” broadcast from Thunder Studios in Long Beach, California, the two sluggers eschewed the idea of defense in favor of toe-to-toe back-and-forth warfare throughout the 10 rounds.

The nearly 10-year youth advantage proved the difference for the 27-year-old Acosta, as his punch rate and superior footwork allowed him to frequently force Rios to the ropes where he was often able to outslug him, especially as the rounds wore on.

Rios had his moments as well, but Acosta’s iron chin help up well. The scores were 98-92, 99-91 and 99-91.

Rene “El Bravo” Tellez Giron (23-5, 14 KOs) won the WBC Continental Americas Lightweight Championship with a typically thrilling sixth-round knockout over hard-luck contender “Mayhem” Maliek Montgomery (20-3, 18 KOs) of Macon, Georgia.

Fighting in the night’s co-feature, Tellez Giron dropped Montgomery with a flush left hook in the final seconds of the first round, negating the good work the flashy-fisted Montgomery had done in the first 2:58 of the opener.

Awakened by the smell of blood, Tellez Giron came out firing in round two, but Montgomery met his aggression with his own sharp shots that pushed Giron onto his back foot for much of the round.

A good action round three was punctuated by a left hook the liver by Tellez Giron. Then, after two more forehead-to-forehead rounds in a phonebooth, Montgomery saw a good round six go up in smoke after getting dropped by a thudding left to the body, again in the round’s final seconds.

This time, Montgomery’s corner felt they had seen enough and asked Referee Gerard White to stop the grueling contest before the start of round seven.

Popular super lightweight Leonardo Rubalcava (11-1-1, 4 KOs) of Teocaltiche, Jalisco, Mexico won a dominant eight-round decision over wild-swinging veteran Juan Antonio Llanes (12-3-1, 7 KOs) of Culiacan, Sinaloa, Mexico. The tough-as-nails Llanes earned his money, taking a fight-long beating, especially to the body, but had no answers for the disciplined power punching of Rubalcava. The doctors took a long look at the fading Llanes before round eight but allowed him to see the final bell. The scores were 80-72 by all three judges.

Hawaiian super welterweight prospect KJ Waialae (4-0, 2 KOs) won an entertaining six-round over unanimous decision over formerly undefeated Monray Marable (2-1, 2 KOs) of Lancaster, California. Waialae’s superior work rate gave him a slight edge over the eager, but outgunned, Marable. Marable had a good round four. The scores were 59-55 by all three judges.

In the opening televised bout, Australia’s Cooper O’Connell (4-0, 4 KOs) made a successful North American fighting debut by knocking out formerly undefeated Jorge Garcia Manrriquez (2-1, 2 KOs) in three rounds. Super lightweight O’Connell dropped Manrriquez with a left late in the first round and again in round three with another perfect straight left hand. Referee Ray Corona waved it off without counting at the :45 mark.

This event was presented by Robert Garcia, Garry Jonas (Pro Box Promotions), and Sampson Lewkowicz (Sampson Boxing).

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