Rios withdraws from Herrera fight with arm injury

The manager of former lightweight titleholder Brandon Rios has confirmed an initial report by BoxingScene.com that the fighter suffered an injury to his right elbow during training on Tuesday, and will be forced to pull out of a junior welterweight bout with Mauricio Herrera that was scheduled for the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif. on July 7.

The fight between Rios (30-0-1, 22 knockouts)  and Herrera (18-2, 7 KOs) was to be part of an HBO "Boxing After Dark" telecast with Nonito Donaire in a junior featherweight unification bout against Jeffrey Mathebula as the main event.

"He hurt his arm, so he can't go. That's all that it is," said Rios' manager, Cameron Dunkin. "He was sparring. He hurt his right arm."

Rios was coming off a controversial split-decision over Richard Abril in April, this, following an 11th-round knockout of John Murray in December. 

Rios failed to make the 135-pound lightweight limit for both fights against Murray and Abril. Rios lost his WBA crown at the scales against Murray, and could not regain it as a result of his weight issues against Abril.

A deal was struck with the Murray camp in which Rios could weigh no greater than 10 pounds (147) more when he was checked at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday at his hotel. After Rios weighed 146.4 pounds on the morning of the fight, his bout with Murray was allowed to happen.

Lem Satterfield can be reached at lemuel.satterfield@gmail.com