Rios girds up for ‘scary’ Pacquiao

CEBU, Philippines - Brandon Rios' trainer Robert Garcia feels that eight-division world champion Manny Pacquiao no longer packs the same power he used to five years ago, but he gamely admitted that they are preparing for a 'scary' Pacquiao since the very first day of their training camp.

"There's a lot of things that we've seen in Pacquiao's past three or four fights," Garcia told Lem Satterfield of RingTV.com. "I don't see the same Pacquiao of five years ago. I know that a lot of people will agree with me, but we still need to prepare for that scary Pacquiao."

Rios will be fighting for the first time as a welterweight against Pacquiao in November 24 at the Cotai Arena of the sprawling Venetian Resort and Casino in Macau, China.

Garcia said they will surely cash in on Pacquiao's back-to-back losses to Tim Bradley and Juan Manuel Marquez, even as he also expects Rios to come out faster and stronger against the fighting congressman from Sarangani province.

"Pacquiao has lost to Bradley and gotten knocked out by Marquez. So, those are things that we've got to take advantage of," said Garcia.

As far as their extensive training regimen is concerned, Garcia is very much impressed with what Rios had shown.

"We don't like to publicize what's going on in training, but I'm so impressed," said Garcia in the same internet report. "Brandon's been knocking our sparring partners out. He's doing a good job, looking so strong and so fast, and we've still got six weeks before the fight. Brandon's going to fight at welterweight, so he doesn't have to kill himself to make weight. He's strong and he's walking around 10, 12 pounds over the weight."

"But at six weeks before the fight that's no problem. Brandon's going to be faster. That's one thing that we're working on is his speed, and he's going to be faster," he added.

Though confident on the ability of his prized ward, Garcia said Pacquiao couldn't be taken lightly even at this stage of his career and that he still holds the Filipino ring superstar with high esteem owing to his shining credential that made him a global phenomenon in the sporting world.

"Manny Pacquiao's done so much in boxing that we've got to admire and be aware of of all of that. So we're training for the Pacquiao that has done everything. The Pacquiao that is so fast, and so powerful, and who has knocked everybody out. We're preparing for the Pacquiao that's scary," said Garcia.  (FREEMAN)