Brandon Rios vs. Maurcio Herrera: Can Maurcio win a decision in this fight?

By Boxing News - 06/07/2012 - Comments

Image: Brandon Rios vs. Maurcio Herrera: Can Maurcio win a decision in this fight?By Dan Ambrose: We just saw former WBC World lightweight champion Brandon Rios (30-0-1, 22 KO’s) get what many boxing fans saw as a gift decision against Cuban Richard Abril last April in Las Vegas. Pretty much the entire world thought Rios looked awful and didn’t deserve to win that fight.

Rios was given the decision by two of the judges, however, and he’s thus moving forward to face light welterweight contender Maurico Herrera (18-2, 7 KO’s) next month on July 7th at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California. You can look at this fight in a number of ways ways: Rios may be stronger because he won’t have to be draining himself to lose weight. This in turn could make him a better fighter.

Rios won’t have to go looking for the 32-year-old light-hitting Herrera like he did against Abril, because Herrera will likely be standing right in front of him all night long looking to slug. Herrera just finished losing a bout against the unbeaten light welterweight contender Mike Alvarado last April in a fight in which Herrera took a lot of punishment.

With the punishment that Herrera took, and the fact that he’ll likely be standing in front of Rios all night long, this could be an easy fight for Rios. If Rios can’t shine against this guy, then he needs to consider retiring because they get a lot better than this as he moves up the food chain. Rios could also struggle badly because he’s moving up in weight to take this fight, and he’ll no longer be the big fish in a small pond that he was while fighting at 135 lbs. At 140, Rios will no longer be the biggest puncher in the division, and he’ll have to figure out another part of his game that can get him past the bigger punchers and better fighters.

I have my doubts about whether Herrera can win a decision over Rios after seeing how Rios was given a decision in his last bout against Abril. I think it may take a knockout for Herrera to beat Rios, because I can’t see Herrera getting a decision against the popular Rios. I think Rios will succeed no matter how bad he looks against Herrera.



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