Less than a week before their Aug. 2 showdown at the Chelsea inside The Cosmopolitan Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Brandon “Bam” Bam Rios and Diego Chaves’ bout is in danger of not taking place.
Chavez, a native Argentine, is having issues with his visa (h/t Boxing Scene) being approved to travel to Las Vegas due to a computer malfunction at the United States Immigration courts that has backlogged around 400,000 visa applications.
There is still hope that Chaves makes it to Sin City in time for the bout, given that there is still five days until fight night and anything could happen given the amount of time remaining.
Fight Hub TV reached out to Top Rank about the situation and the possibility of a backup opponent being in the works and we received word that Chaves is still trying to get in and that they would keep us posted.
So with no word on a replacement fighter for Rios at this time from Top Rank, it appears that the whole bout could be postponed if Chaves is denied entry to the U.S. Such events would mean Las Vegas resident, and current WBA junior welterweight titlist Jessie Vargas’ first title defense against Anton Novikov could be in danger too, as that bout wouldn’t be big enough to headline the event alone in Vegas.
The Rios-Chavez, Vargas-Novikov bouts are supposed to be part of an HBO tripleheader Saturday night that will feature the Sergey Kovalev-Blake Caperello light heavyweight title bout that will take place in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
The fight being postponed would be a huge blow to Rios’ career as he hasn’t fought since his November loss to Manny Pacquiao, largely in part to a suspension as a result of a failed drug test after the Pacman showdown.
Rios is known for being one of the most exciting fighters in sport as he will take a punch to give a punch and that has resulted in several fights of the year-type performances over the years. The Saturday showdown with Chaves has also been speculated to produce similar results, as Chaves also likes to push the action, which would give fights fans a rock ‘em, sock ‘em affair.
Stay tuned to Fight Hub TV for the latest news on the Rios-Chaves fight status as it becomes available.
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