MANILA, Philippines – Manny Pacquiao opened as a 3-to-1 favorite over Brandon Rios in the betting lines, sports websites reported Thursday.
Reports from badlefthook.com and mmamania.com said Bovala.lv, a sports betting website, has installed Pacquiao as a -400 favorite for the fight. Rios, meanwhile, is at +300.
The odds came out just a few days after it was announced that Pacquiao has picked Rios as his comeback opponent on Nov. 24 in Macau.
Pacquiao’s favored status in the betting lines comes despite the Filipino icon suffering back-to-back losses to Timothy Bradley and Juan Manuel Marquez. Rios, for his part, is also coming off a decision loss to Mike Alvarado last March.
Nevertheless, the latest betting odds come as no surprise since Pacquiao has fared well against come-forward fighters like Rios. In fact, Pacquiao’s most notable wins came against fighters who like to mix it up like Erik Morales, Ricky Hatton, Oscar de La Hoya, Miguel Cotto and Antonio Margarito.
The Filipino icon ended up dominating the above-mentioned fighters.
Pacquiao should do the same to Rios, unless the fighting congressman’s best days in the ring are over, as some boxing observers believe.