Brandon Rios Wants to Face Juan Manuel Marquez at Cowboys Stadium in July

Though Brandon Rios is currently reportedly in talks to face Yuriorkis Gamboa on April 14 in Las Vegas, the ex-lightweight titlist is hoping to land a July 14 date in Cowboys Stadium against Juan Manuel Marquez, too.

From Chris Robinson of the Examiner:

"I would love a fight like that. I would love to fight that guy. ... He’s very smart, very talented, and when he throws his punches he throws to make sure he lands; he’s very accurate. A fight like that, you just got to watch out, always stay on your toes, and be ready for whatever he brings because Marquez is going to come and he’s going to come to win."

Bob Arum apparently still plans to run with Marquez at Cowboys Stadium on that date despite the fact that Lamont Peterson has signed for a May 19 rematch against Amir Khan, and Rios would be as good an opponent as anyone out there.

Rios (29-0-1, 22 KO) was successful in his December 3 fight against John Murray, but lost his WBA lightweight title on the scales despite a valiant and frankly dangerous attempt to make weight in the final days before the fight. His team has hired a nutrionist to try and keep him in the lightweight division for the time being, but he's probably not long for that division, and Marquez has indicated a desire to stay over 135 himself, so that fight could be at 140 if it were to happen.

I still think Arum is crazy with this Cowboys Stadium thing, but I've thought Arum was crazy about a lot of things that worked. Marquez vs Rios is probably a better big stadium fight than Marquez vs Peterson, but you're still lacking that big, huge A-side star to make a fight like that really pop. Marquez is a big star nowadays, but he's not Manny Pacquiao, and Manny Pacquiao's fights in the stadium were disappointments financially.