Ronny Rios has covered a lot of ground in a relatively short time. Most successful professional fighters take up the sport shortly after theyre weaned off the bottle. Rios started as a teen-ager, at 13, which mightve left him hopelessly behind his peers in terms of fundamentals and experience. Rios appears to be a born fighter, though, the kind who adapts quickly and is afraid of nothing. He developed so quickly that he narrowly missed making the 2008 U.S. Olympic team, losing a controversial decision to eventual Olympian Gary Russell Jr. As a pro, Rios, only 19, is 5-0 (with two knockouts). He faces journeyman Rodrigo Aranda in a four- or six-round bantamweight bout on the second Fight Night Club card Thursday at Club Nokia in L.A. Ive always just tried to work on my technique more than anything else, Rios said. And conditioning; I run a lot. I also have fast hands; thats what everyone says. I know fast hands and power only take you so far, though. A perfect fighter has the technique. Every day, I work on my foot work, throwing punches properly, turning them over, blocking and shooting. All the hard stuff. Rios wasnt interested in boxing when he went to spend vacation with his Uncle Ramiro, who happened to be a boxing fanatic. The boy picked up some boxing magazines, started reading and was intrigued. He said he was attracted by two catchy names Vernon Forrest and Sugar Shane Mosley and thought, I want to see my name there. I started talking to my uncle, I got into watching video tapes and then my brother started boxing, he said. So my uncle took me to Jerome (Memorial Recreational) Center in Santa Ana, which is where I met (trainer) Hector (Lopez). I didnt know it was going to go this far. It just happened. http://www.ringtv.com/blog/931/rios_makes_up_for_lost_time/
