Two-division world champion Timothy Bradley (33-1-1, 13 KOs) knocked down former lightweight title holder Brandon Rios (33-3-1, 24 KOs) in the ninth round of their scheduled 12-round WBO welterweight title fight on Saturday. While Bradley answered questions regarding a third fight with Filipino icon Manny Pacquiao after the encounter, Rios announced his retirement from the sport.

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Referee Tony Weeks stopped the fight at the 2:48 mark of Round 9 to award Bradley a TKO victory over the 29-year-old Rios after the former hit him with a brutal left hook to the body, as per Yahoo Sports.

Rios recovered from the first knockdown but received a flurry of punches from the Desert Storm and went down again, prompting Weeks to end the match.

With the win, Bradley retains the belt he lost to Pacquiao in April 2014. He looked great and far superior to Rios under new trainer Teddy Atlas as he won all nine rounds of the bout.

"That's the best Bradley I've ever seen," Bob Arum, who is the promoter of both Bradley and Rios, told the media after the fight.

Rios said that he is "done" after the loss and that the "better man won" so he has "no excuses".

"When it's done, it's done," said the Texas native, as reported by the Los Angeles Times. "My body wasn't doing the things I wanted it too. I tried to pull the trigger. It wouldn't go."

"It (hurts) to walk away, but I'm going to go enjoy my life with my family and find a nice place to go and chill," he ended.

Meanwhile, Bradley, asked by reporters after the match if he would pursue a third clash with Pacquiao, said that he wanted his friend Terence Crawford to land the fight against the eight-division world champion next year instead of him.

The 32-year-old California native said that he wanted Crawford's career to bloom and for him to become "the next superstar in boxing", which is why he wishes that his stablemate would get the multi-million dollar bout.

TagsBoxing, Boxing News, Boxing News 2015, Boxing News & Rumors, Boxing News & Rumors 2015, Timothy Bradley Jr., Brandon Rios, manny pacquiao