Acosta-Rios this Saturday night

By Eric Thomas: This Saturday night, number #1 ranked WBA lightweight challenger Brandon Rios (26-0-1, 19 KO’s) will be taking on World Boxing Association lightweight champion Miguel Acosta (28-3-2, 22 KO’s) at the Palms Casino Resort, in Las Vegas, Nevada. This is a fight that’s really difficult to pick a winner because Rios is fighting so well right now, but Acosta is so difficult to fight because of his ability to move constantly and punch with power while on the move.

Rios, 24, hasn’t faced anyone similar to the 32-year-old Acosta, and it’s going to be a real test to see how he handles the movement and the power from Acosta. In his last three fights, Acosta had defeated Urbano Antillon by a 9th round TKO, WBA lightweight champion Paulus Moses by a 6th round KO and Armando Cordoba by a 1st round knockout. The Moses and Antillon wins were really impressive by Acosta and those victories tell you that Rios may be in trouble in this fight.

Rios is a great pressure fighter, as we saw in his wins over Anthony Peterson, Omri Lowther and Jorge Luis Teron. However, Acosta is someone that does really well against pressure fighters because it enables him to catch them as they’re coming forward. Acosta is able to move all night long, throwing powerful looping shots and uppercuts. He throws shots from all angles and is well suited to fighting on the move. This is perhaps the worst possible opponent that Rios could be fighting. He’s going to have to double the amount of pressure he’s putting on Acosta and hope he can hurt him with something big.

Acosta hasn’t lost a fight since 2003, when he was beaten by a 10 round decision by William Morelo. Acosta is a completely different fighter now, much better than he was back then.

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