Mayweather defends his WBC title

Dean Juipe

Thursday, Feb. 18, 1999 | 10:43 a.m.

In a fight that didn't quite go as expected, Las Vegas resident Floyd Mayweather successfully defended his World Boxing Council junior lightweight championship Wednesday night in his native Grand Rapids, Mich., taking a 12-round decision victory over Carlos Rios.

Mayweather, 21, raised his record to 20-0 but failed to add to his total of 16 knockouts despite his best efforts. Rios, 44-3-1, was on the steady end of punishment yet never went down in the nationally televised bout.

"I can't knock out everybody," Mayweather said after the fight. "But a champion fights to the end."

Mayweather threw 593 punches and landed 355. Rios threw 428 and landed 155.

A capacity crowd of 13,200 at Van Andel Arena greeted and supported Mayweather, a 1996 Olympic bronze medalist who moved to Las Vegas three years ago. While he said "I'm glad it went 12 rounds, so that I can show people I can go the distance" he wanted and had predicted a mid-fight knockout.

By having to go the distance, Mayweather may not be able to fight again April 17 as planned. While nothing is official, the Las Vegas Hilton is negotiating to hold a Mayweather fight on that date.

Goyo Vargas, 38-6-1, has been mentioned as Mayweather's next possible opponent.

"We take our hats off to him," trainer Floyd Mayweather Sr. said of Rios, who refused to buckle in spite of the big hits he was taking. He took the younger Mayweather past the eighth round for only the third time in his career.

The fight was easy to score and the judges had it 120-110, 119-108 and 120-109, each for Mayweather. His strongest rounds were the seventh, eighth and 11th.

In a semi-main event featuring a pair of ex-champions, Junior Jones earned a decision victory over Tom Johnson in a 12-round fight at 130 pounds.

Each man was knocked down once. Jones won by 8, 6 and 4 points on the judges' cards.