By Dan Ambrose: Former WBA lightweight champion Brandon Rios (31-2-1, 23 KO’s) is calling his August 2nd fight against #10 IBF Diego Chaves (23-1, 19 KO’s) a “Do-or-die fight for me,” when he faces the tough Argentinian at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.
At media workout today in Oxnard, California, Rios said Chaves is a tough fighter. I expect a hard fight and one the fans will enjoy. Believe me, I’m far from finished. I want to get to the position I was in before.”
For Rios to get back into the position he was in before, he’s going to need to diet his way down to 135, and try and compete with guys like Terence Crawford, Miguel Vazquez, Richard Abril and Omar Figueroa. Rios hasn’t looked like the same fighter he once was since he moved up in weight from lightweight to 140 and 147. Rios’ main advantage when he was fighting at lightweight was his ability to rehydrate after making weight and then enjoy a huge size advantage over his smaller opponents.
When Rios moved to 140, the size advantage disappeared. And now that Rios can’t even make 140 either, he’s really got problems at 147. There’s nothing special about Rios at welterweight, as he’s just another slow, plodding fighter with good but not great power. For Rios to compete at 147, he needs something to deal with guys like Keith Thurman, Shawn Porter, Amir Khan, Floyd Mayweather Jr, Tim Bradley and Manny Pacquiao.
Rios has lost back to back fights to Manny Pacquiao and Mike Alvarado, and things are starting to look a little bleak for the 28-year-old Rios career-wise. If he loses his fight to Chaves, who is far from the best fighter in the welterweight division, there’s not much else Top Rank can use Rios for other than putting him in with Alvarado again or maybe Ruslan Provodnikov after that.
With Top Rank matching Rios fairly tough against Chaves instead of some easy mark, it looks like they’re sending a message to Rios that they’re not going to coddle him. He’s going to have to prove himself that he belongs with them, and the only way he can do that is to go out there and blast Chaves out of there.
A loss for Rios in this fight might be the beginning of the end for him. What can Top Rank do with Rios if he can’t even beat a guy like Chaves? They can obviously use Rios for two more fights against Provodnikov and Alvarado, but after that it’s pretty much the end of the line. Bradley isn’t going to want to fight Rios now that he’s lost two straight fights, and Arum can’t use him for Pacquiao anymore after the way he gotten by him.
Chaves is a fringe contender and these are the type of guys that Rios needs to be able to beat in order for him to hang around the welterweight division to get occasional world title fights. If Rios can beat Chaves and put together a winning streak, Arum might be able to get him a title shot sooner or later at 147 against a Golden Boy fighter.
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