Just because Rios loses a one-sided decision to Pacquiao doesn't mean he's finished ,Manny Pacquiao make all his opponents look like they should retire.
If Rios fight someone that's a step slower than Pacquiao like a Ruslan Provonikov ,it will be a whole different fight ,as a result ,Rios would be able to land more punches and chances are Provodikov's power and accuracy won't be quite as good as Pacquiao's either.
You also have to consider the Provodnikov we saw against Bradley was a highly motivated Provodikov because fighting for a world title was an opportunity of a life time ,against Rios ,Provodnikov may not be quite as motivated in training as he was when he was training to fight Bradley.
Rios loves the sport more than anything. He might not choose his words carefully or whatever but the dude loves to fight. I'd pick him to beat Provodnikov only because Rios has taken Alvarado's and Pacquiao's best shots and only got wobbled. In the Bradley fight, Ruslan was hurt to the body several times, by Tim Bradley. Imagine what Brandon would do. I'd pick Rios by late stoppage in the 10th or 11th.
I'm not one to tell someone else what to do with their life, but he won't be able to write his name in ten years if he keeps fighting like a human punching bag and repeatedly blocking shots with his face. A little defense goes a long way. He is horrible defensively and it would benefit him to work on that, seeing as how that's one of the four criteria used to score a fight; and then needlessly to say for what it would do for his own self preservation.
Rios should take a temporary hiatus for like a year. Also, Prov would cause more damage than Pac did.
I think the guy could still challenge at 147...but Golden Boy has the guys he'd want at that weight.
The guy is slurring like crazy and he is also too stupid to notice the ill-effects of his fighting career. On top of all this he is asking for a fight with Provodnikov which could destroy him. Thoughts?
