Bradley sees Pacquiao doing damage against Rios

By Boxing News - 08/15/2013 - Comments

pac99By Chris Williams: WBO welterweight champion Timothy Bradley is only giving Brandon Rios (31-1-1, 23 KO’s) a punchers chance against Manny Pacquiao (54-5-2, 38 KO’s) in their fight on November 23rd, because Bradley feels that Rios’ straight ahead fighting style is made to order for Pacquiao. And Bradley also thinks Rios is smaller than Pacquiao, which is kind of to understand because the 5’8” Rios close to a 2 inch height advantage over the 5’6 ½” Pacquiao.

Bradley said to Hustleboss.com “Manny does his best work on guys that come right at him. Brandon Rios is a smaller guy. They’re probably around the same size. I don’t know if that weight is suitable for him [Rios] to fight at 147. I think he [Pacquiao] still has a lot left in the tank. I think his speed, his movement, his power he carries. I think he’ll be able to display it against Brandon Rios…everyone knows that when Pacquiao throws combinations, he’s going to do damage.”

The fact that Bradley doesn’t even know that Pacquiao is a lot smaller than Rios makes me ignore everything he has to say about him. If Bradley doesn’t even know that, then it makes you wonder if Bradley has ever seen Rios fight. Bradley’s comment about Rios’ weight is another thing that shows you how little he knows about Rios.

In Rios’ last fight against Mike Alvarado, Rios was near 160 lbs. after rehydrating. If that’s enough not a sigh that Rios is comfortable around 147 then I don’t know what is. Rios might be a little comfortable around 147 for Pacquiao.

I would agree with what Bradley says about Rios’ straight ahead fighting style being made to order for Pacquiao, but that was the younger Pacquiao, not the soon to be 35-year-old Pacquiao we saw get knocked out old by Juan Manuel Marquez last December. I think even straight ahead fighters like Rios is going to be a lot of problems for Pacquiao.

Bradley made no mention of Rios’ strong chin, and he should have. If Rios can take Pacquiao’s power, then that means he’s going to be in the fight long enough to test Pacquiao’s chin all night long, and for someone that was knocked out the way Pacquiao was, that’s not a good thing.



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