Brandon Rios vs. John Murray in the works for Cotto-Margarito undercard

By Boxing News - 10/05/2011 - Comments

Image: Brandon Rios vs. John Murray in the works for Cotto-Margarito undercardBy Scott Gilfoid: In a nice little mismatch that makes my stomach turn over, a fight between WBA lightweight world champion Brandon Rios (28-0-1, 21 KO’s) is reportedly in the works for the Miguel Cotto vs. Antonio Margarito undercard on December 3rd at the Madison Square Garden in New York.

According to Dan Rafael, Carl Moretti of Top Rank is working with Murray’s promoter Frank Warren to set up the Rios vs. Murray fight. Rafael wants to see this mismatch. Can you believe that?

While some boxing fans may like this fight, I absolutely hate it. There’s got to be a better fighter than fringe, bottom ranked contender Murray to be found amongst the top lightweights. Murray just got royally beat by Kevin Mitchell by an 8th round TKO stoppage last July in a fight that never even competitive.

It was a slaughter from the first minute of action until the bitter end for Murray in the 8th. But the thing is, Mitchell would be fodder for Rios. Mitchell would last more than a couple of rounds against Rios in my view, and knowing that I see Murray as an utterly terrible choice.

To start with, Murray is too slow, too rigid, lacks the flexibility, experience and talent to compete with a guy like Rios. I don’t mind seeing Murray fight when he’s taking on domestic level opposition that he’s capable of competing with but not against a world class fighter like Rios.

I’d rather not watch Rios decimate Murray. Here are some guys that I rate as much, much higher than Murray and think they would be perfect for Rios: Miguel Acosta, Mercito Gesta, Darley Perez, John Molina, Paulus Moses, Logan McGuiness, and Anthony Peterson.



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