Rios looked like a more hittable version of Margarito against Acosta

By Boxing News - 02/27/2011 - Comments

Image: Rios looked like a more hittable version of Margarito against AcostaBy Dan Ambrose: Before anyone gets too carried away with clapping Brandon Rios (27-0-1, 20 KO’s) on the back for his 10th round TKO victory over WBA lightweight champion Miguel Acosta (28-4-2, 22 KO’s) last Saturday night, they need to realize that Rios looked like a more hittable version of former two time welterweight champion Antonio Margarito. I don’t mean that in a good way either.

Rios showed no defense for any of Acosta’s shots and he took an enormous amount of punishment from Acosta in their fight and if Acosta hadn’t tired out at the end of the fight, Rios would have lost the fight. He just had no defense for anything that Acosta was throwing. It was painful to watch all the shots that Rios ate in this fight. His head was like an old bell, and Acosta was ringing it over and over again with shots.

The problem for Acosta is that he just didn’t have the stamina to stand and trade with Rios. When Acosta was standing in one spot, he was giving Rios pure hell. But then Acosta ran out of gas and couldn’t handle Rios’ power.

If Rios wants to extend his time as the WBA champ, he’s going to need to do a couple of things. First of all, he’s going to need to stay away from Juan Manuel Marquez because he’ll lose that fight. Rios will probably lose to Michael Katsidis and Robert Guerrero as well, because those guys are able to block punches, unlike Rios. You have to be able to defend in order to beat guys like them, and Rios just doesn’t have the skills to beat those guys. His trainer really needs to go back to the drawing board and work overtime on Rios’ defensive flaws because there’s just too many of them to count.



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