Ronny Rios says he is having the training camp he wished he had when he fought Nick Ball for the world title.

Rios will face Bryan Acosta in a 10-round featherweight main event on Saturday at Thunder Studios in Long Beach, California. The bout will stream on ProBox TV.

Rios, 34-5 (17 KOs), hasn’t fought since being stopped by Nick Ball in October 2024. Fighting Ball (then the WBA featherweight titleholder) in his hometown, Rios now admits he let the crowd get to him and failed to follow pre-fight instructions from his corner. For this camp, the team, headed by Jesus “Chuy” Gutierrez, went back to the way they planned to fight Ball. Rios, of Santa Ana, California, promises to show people he can box, not just brawl in this upcoming bout.

“We were already three to four pounds away [from fight weight] a week and a half before the fight,” Rios told BoxingScene. “I wish the Nick Ball camp would’ve been like this camp.”

Rios has now fought for the world title three times. In addition to falling to Ball in their featherweight bout, he lost a unanimous decision fight to Rey Vargas in 2017 for a junior featherweight title and was stopped by Murodjon Akhmadaliev in a junior featherweight fight in 2022.

Coming off the Ball loss and a lengthy layoff, Rios is eager to show that he can get back into contention.

“To me, this is about the mental side on how to come back,” Rios said. “Like I am telling everybody, we're not just coming back for one payday.”

His goal is to win a title, possibly unify. That is the 36-year-old Rios’ ambition at this point. This fight is extra special because he will have some interested observers who will be live for the fight.

“My oldest son is going to be there for the first time,” Rios said. “It adds an even better incentive; it is a special moment for me. I want to give a dazzling performance.”

Acosta, 20-2 (8 KOs), spent his camp training with Bob Santos in Las Vegas. A 27-year-old from Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico, Acosta is coming off back-to-back losses and hoping to avoid three in a row.

Rios-Acosta is a battle between two contenders, with neither looking to take another step back.

“I think he is young and he is coming up, and he has a lot of heart for jumping into this fight with a loss,” Rios said. “We will see how it plays out.”

Lucas Ketelle is the author of “Inside the Ropes of Boxing,” a guide for young fighters, a writer for BoxingScene and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Find him on X at @BigDogLukie.