LAS VEGAS – Bryan Acosta is training with Bob Santos ahead of his upcoming fight with Ronny Rios. 

Acosta faces Rios in a 10-round featherweight main event Saturday night from Thunder Studios in Long Beach, California. 

Acosta, 20-2 (8 KOs), has had his last two fights on ProBox TV, resulting in the only two losses in his career. Acosta burst on the scene with a competitive bout against Ramon Cardenas, which, despite losing a 10-round unanimous decision, turned some heads. Against Sulaiman Segawa in September, things changed as Acosta was stopped in the seventh round. Acosta needed a change and turned to veteran trainer Bob Santos to make it. 

“There isn’t too much to say other than I am with the right people,” Acosta told BoxingScene. “I have known [Santos] for a long time, and he is a great coach.”

Acosta has sparred some heavy hitters, including Naoya Inoue, but he notably sparred Juan Francisco Estrada and Hernan “Tyson” Marquez when they were preparing to fight each other. He was training with Estrada’s team, but his father trained Marquez at the time. Acosta would spar with Estrada as a southpaw and Marquez in the orthodox stance. He recalled that, with Estrada, you had to watch for a hook to the liver while complimenting Estrada’s combination punching. Against Inoue, it was his timing with his feet mixed with his punching power. Yet, in his last fight, people didn’t see his pedigree, something that bothers him. 

“Right now, this comeback is personal,” Acosta said. “It is personal since I feel in my last two fights I wasn’t 100 percent, I wasn’t even 80 percent.”

Rios, 34-5 (17 KOs), of Santa Ana, California, will be fighting for the first time since an October 2024 stoppage loss to then WBA featherweight titleholder Nick Ball. Rios, 36, a well-known Southern California fighter, is looking to ruin Acosta’s comeback story. Acosta believes that the fighter you see on Saturday will be much different than his last fight. 

“Several things weren’t good,” Acosta said. “Right now, I am good spiritually, mentally, and physically. This comeback is personal, and in this fight, I am going to make a statement.”