Rios sees pressure as key to beating Pacquiao

By Boxing News - 07/12/2013 - Comments

pac53By Chris Williams: Former WBA lightweight champion Brandon Rios (31-1-1, 23 KO’s) sees constant pressure as being the key to beating the aging Manny Pacquiao (54-5-2, 38 KO’s) on November 23rd at the Cotai Arena, Venetian Resort, Macao, Macao S.A.R., China.

Rios has studied Pacquiao’s fights and noted that he doesn’t fight well when going backwards. Rios thinks that’s where he’s going to get Manny by stopping him from coming forward, and making him fight while backing up.

Rios said to RingTV “He’s going to leave himself open and I’m going to catch his a**, and when I catch his a**, he’s going down…I’m going to do more than back him up…he can’t push me around…I’ll be ready for this guy.”

It’s definitely possible for Rios to back Pacquiao up. Juan Manuel Marquez was backing Pacquiao up at times last December, and he knocked him out when Pacquiao tried to reverse course in the 6th round. If Rios can get Pacquiao backing up, he may be able to catch him with a big shot when Pacquiao tries to come forward. He’s pretty predictable.

When Pacquiao gets nailed hard, he goes straight ahead trying to get his opponent back immediately instead of waiting a little before going after them. It’s predictable because it’s like a schoolboy fight instead of one where the fighter is strategizing to pick the right moment to unleash shots.

Rios will have no doubt watched a lot of Pacquiao’s fights and seen what Marquez saw and be ready to knock him out as well when they face each other on November 23rd.

Pacquiao can’t afford to lose this fight if he doesn’t want his U.S pay per view money to possibly start going down with fewer fans wanting to purchase his fights. He’s lost his last two fights, and a defeat against Rios would be his third straight defeat.

I don’t care how popular Pacquiao is; with three straight defeats it’s going to be difficult for him to stay where he was before in getting 1 million PPV buys with each fight. Pacquiao can make up for a lot of that with the money he’ll be getting from the Chinese audiences through PPV in China, but how much longer can you sell Pacquiao’s fights if he keeps losing?



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