By Chris Williams: Ring Magazine has dropped former WBA lightweight champion Brandon Rios (31-2-1, 23 KO’s) following his lopsided loss to Manny Pacquiao from last November, and in light of Rios’ positive test for a banned substance, according to RingTV. Rios had been ranked #7 in the Ring’s 140 lb. rankings. Rios’ place in the Ring ratings will be taken by fellow Top Rank fighter Khabib Allakhverdiev.
Rios lost to Pacquiao by the scores 119-109, 120-108, 118-110.
Rios is hoping to get a fight against WBO light welterweight champion Ruslan Provodnikov next, and it’s possible that he might get the fight unless Provodnikov faces Pacquiao next. If Pacquiao fights WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley next on April 12th, then it’s highly possible that Rios and Provodnikov could end up facing each other on that card, likely as the co-feature.
The Ring Ratings probably shouldn’t have had Rios in their top 10 after his loss to Mike Alvarado last March. It didn’t make any sense at that point to still have Rios as a top 10 guy in their ratings for the overall division when he was beaten convincingly by Alvarado. But then again, Rios probably shouldn’t have been given a fight with Pacquiao after that loss either. But with there being few real options for Pacquiao to fight in the Top Rank stable, Rios got the fight pretty much be default given the lack of depth in the stable.
Rios has a lot of work to do for him to climb his way back into the ratings. He probably should move back down to 135 because he doesn’t have any real advantages over the good 140 and 147 lb. fighters. He’s talked about wanting to stay in the welterweight division, but after looking at how poor he was against Pacquiao, it might be better for Rios to diet his way back to 135 and skip the 140 lb. division altogether.
Provodnikov would likely beat Rios worse than Alvarado did if that fight were to happen. Rios is showing courage for wanting to take on Provodnikov, but that doesn’t mean that he has the kind of talented needed to win this fight. Provodnikov would probably do a number on him if this fight were to be made.
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