Brandon Rios is a low skilled fighter with a weak mental makeup and is an almost perfect opponent for Pac to showcase his best attributes, great hand speed and good athleticism. The athletic talent, mental makeup and work ethic differences between these two is so great the only way Manny loses is if he makes a boneheaded mistake at the wrong time. The bad news for Pac fans is that he makes boneheaded mistakes constantly, plateaued technically (at a rather low level) several years ago and is so repetitive a blind man could call one of his fights. The GREAT news for Pac fans is he's not facing a highly skilled, counter-punching opponent that can capitalize on those faults in most situations during a fight.
Could Manny get KO'ed? Absolutely, Manny's chin has always been suspect. However, he's fighting a lightweight that struggled bringing all his pop to his 1st bout at 140 and making him come up to 147. 147 lbs. will be a big issue for Rios, as it was for Broner despite his clear victory, and he simply doesn't have the right combination of skill & mental makeup to overcome it. Unless of course Pac does all the work for him.
I sure hope Manny Pacquiao does not share your cocksure confidence vis a vis Brandon Rios because he could be in danger of another disastrous defeat harboring such mindset into the fight against a young, hungry, bigger, stronger and dangerous opponent as Rios.
I remember about two years ago on this same site, I predicted Rios as a future foe for Pacquiao and that was at a time when Pacquiao was on a winning roll and a specific Y/A question pertained to Pacquiao's future in boxing and who he would likely meet to stay on top given the difficulty in nailing a fight with Floyd Mayweather. At that time Brandon was also starting to make some noise and heads turn among the fans and I felt strongly that he and Pacquiao were bound to meet at some future junction.
Now it's happening and I think Rios has improved much more since two years ago while Pacquiao seems to be at a crucial crossroads in his career---whether it's already the end of the road for him or he still has some miles to go before he hangs them up.
I suggest we keep an open mind about this and not give Pacquiao another reason to be over confident heading into the fight or another pressure for him to deliver something he himself might not be sure of delivering to please his fans.
rios is huge...he could rehydrate up to 167 on fight night , rios also got some chin, so durable it can take pac's punches, and wont get distracted to throw a bomb while pac lunges in wide open... so yes, not only rios might...but he could. pac was once an enigma to mexicans, his style has been studied and already been solved also by a mexican... rios wont be entering the ring w/o knowing how to beat pac...
pac, after that near-death experience, might not be the same pac anymore, brain damage from a blunt force trauma can relapse most of the time, on this fight, we might witness an already damaged-good pacman. not to mention 7 months after he lost, he was never spotted nor reported goin back to the gym, politics and tv commercials kept him busy during his suspension, his training might be another messed-up camp again....
Rios being a hard hitter has a good chance. He's younger, bigger and taller, not to mention the man is sort of a rubber face.
He eats hard punches for breakfast, lunch and dinner. And snacks, too.
I think Bambam can not live without his face getting a daily dose of power shots.lol
I think Pac is gonna win but Rios has a chance
I don't, sure he might get a lucky punch and knock Pacquiao out. I think he is going to go in at 147 at weight in and on fight night blow up to 167.Rios is going to be slower than usual basically just a punching bag for Pacquiao.
