Malignaggi: Brandon Rios has to cut off the ring on Pacquiao to win

By Boxing News - 08/26/2013 - Comments

rios11By Chris Williams: Paulie Malignaggi thinks that former WBA lightweight champion Brandon Rios (31-1-1, 23 KO’s) needs to cut the ring off on Manny Pacquiao (54-5-2, 38 KO’s) to force him into a war to have a chance to beat him on November 23rd in their fight in Macao, China. Malignaggi expects Pacquiao to use movement against Rios to avoid getting hit with his big shots.

Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach will be having him use his hit and run style of fighting that he employed effectively against Antonio Margarito three years ago in a one-sided 12 round unanimous decision win for Manny. With some boxing fans feeling that Rios is a similar fighter as Margarito, the thought here is that Pacquiao can use his foot speed to keep from getting hit by Rios.

Malignaggi said to esnewsreporting.com “I think it’s a good fight. It can go either way. I think Brandon Rios has to find a way to cut the ring down. If Brandon makes Manny uncomfortable and cuts the ring down, Manny’s in trouble. If Brandon doesn’t, he’s in trouble. It’s up to how Brandon cuts the ring down on Manny.”

It might not be necessary for Rios to cut the ring down in order to beat Manny on November 23rd. Rios can always take a page out of the playbook of Juan Manuel Marquez by sitting back and waiting for Pacquiao to charge forward so that he can hit him with a perfectly timed right hand or left hook.

Pacquiao is so predictable in how he fights, and he doesn’t change from fight to fight no matter what his trainer Freddie Roach says. Roach always says Pacquiao is going to be different with each fight, but he’s essentially the same fighter every time he fights. The only thing that seems be different now is he’s getting dropped and not staying on his feet when he’s hit hard.

Rios does need to apply forward pressure on Pacquiao, because there’s no question that Pacquiao will be using movement. But Pacquiao is a slugger at heart, and he’ll come after Rios sooner or later to trade in a toe-to-toe fashion. Once that happens, Rios will have the perfect opportunity to knock him out cold.



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