Brandon Rios won’t be “twerking†his way to the ring with his tongue out (although I do not know this for a fact) in his fight against Manny Pacquiao this weekend, but one thing he will do like Miley Cyrus is come in like a wrecking ball and do all the damage he possibly can for as long as he can swing.
You can give him a game plan, a blueprint or try to change his fighting style altogether, but it will be for naught. Rios knows no other way to fight but come forward and will live and die in a toe-to-toe slugfest if need be.
That’s his calling card. That’s how he hit pay dirt: by plugging away and taking punishment while handing out his own. Trying to change that now against Pacquiao will prove short-lived and fruitless.
The job Rios is really getting paid for is to test Pacquiao’s chin and his psyche. Can the Filipino boxing icon withstand the punishment he is capable of dishing out after the devastating knockout he suffered in his last fight against Juan Manuel Marquez? Or has the damage cracked his chin, his armor and will doubts come creeping in his head when real haymakers come his way in the absence of protective headgear?
Can Rios hurt Pacquiao?
It’s that simple.
Rios needs to hurt and drop Pacquiao multiple times or finish him off completely to win.
Unless CJ Ross and Robert Garcia’s personal YouTube videographer Elie Seckbach are two of the three judges for the fight, Rios’ chances of winning a decision against Pacquiao in China is slim to none. You don’t have to take my word for it, but even the biggest Rios fan knows that deep down. Heck, if Marquez never won a decision against Pacquiao, how can Rios?
Fortunately, Rios doesn’t know any better. When I asked him about his game plan versus Pacquiao, the 27-year-old slugger promised to barrel in and plug away as usual.
"I'm going to do what I always do and fight the way I fight like I always do. I always come to fight. I always come to bring it," Rios said. "They're going to see the Bam-Bam that always comes forward to fight. I don't hug, I don't dance and I don't play around. I come to fight and I come to get the job done."
Quite frankly, Rios’ style is what landed him his crack at Pacquiao to begin with. Matchmakers and knowledgeable boxing observers picture Rios’ prodding, flat-footed and linear approach as the perfect opponent for Pacquiao to regain his confidence and swagger back.
In the initial press conference to announce the fight, George Foreman likened Rios to a punching bag – something the fiery Mexican warrior took exception to and has occasionally addressed in interviews.
“I’m no punching bag. I’m no tune-up fight. I’m nobody’s sparring partner. I’m Brandon Rios and I come to fight,†Rios said in response during the press conference.
Calling Rios a punching bag in his fight against Pacquiao, figuratively, is missing half the story. Rios is a punching bag that punches back… hard!!!
By no means is Rios just a stationary target, but he’s definitely more than capable of taking punches. Time and time again, Rios has proven to be a tough hombre who will be in a fight until the final bell.
He did it against Joel Ortega in his ninth professional bout when he was dropped twice in the opening round, only to come back and knock his opponent out in the fifth round.
He did it against Miguel Acosta in 2011 to win his first world title after falling behind in the scorecards, only to come back and finish off the champion in the 10th round.
Rios’ resiliency is what makes him a bigger threat to Pacquiao in my opinion than what many give him credit for. Unless Pacquiao finishes him off early, Rios will be a constant danger until the end. He can fall behind on points, but Rios’ pop – especially with added strength and power after training with Pacquiao’s former strength and conditioning coach Alex Ariza – will be good to the last drop, which could be more than enough time for him to catch Pacquiao off-balanced and careless and sneak in and land a damning blow.
Pacquiao loves to trade every bit as much as Rios does, which can leave him vulnerable to the type of punches Marquez pulled out of his bag of tricks in the final ticks of the sixth round.
Rios is every bit as tough as Antonio Margarito – only younger and with naturally loaded gloves – fighting an older Pacquiao whose last act in the boxing ring was to scrape himself from the canvas. To dismiss Rios is not only a slight to his credentials, but takes away from the challenge Pacquiao has set himself to overcome in his comeback bout.
Rios has put in all the work needed to win, and then some. He packed his toughness, courage and confidence with him to Macau, coupled with some extra baggage in the form of old personal vendettas between his trainer’s camp and Pacquiao’s, as well as different kinds of chips he carries on his shoulders each waking day.
Ultimately, however, it will boil down to how much Pacquiao still has left in him. Unlike other great fighters like Floyd Mayweather, Jr. who has been able to preserve himself through his defensive brilliance inside the ring, the offensive-minded Pacquiao has been in so many wars throughout his 18-year career.
Rios is hoping to give Pacquiao his final one, before sending him packing into retirement, but Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach is convinced that punching bags can’t win against elite fighters. We shall find out.
Prediction: Pacquiao by TKO in 8th.
Follow Dennis on Twitter @dRealSource.