By Chris Williams: According to RingTV, Bob Arum of Top Rank is still very much interesting in pitting Brandon Rios in with Manny Pacquiao in April of next year if Pacquiao can get by Juan Manuel Marquez in their fight this December. Arum’s eager to make the Pacquiao-Rios fight and sees it as a huge fight. RingTV reports that the World Boxing Organization has ordered that Rios and Ruslan Provodnikov fight for the vacant WBO light welterweight crown, but it doesn’t look like Arum is too eager to make that fight. He’s still talking about wanting to match Rios with Pacquiao.

I guess I can’t blame Arum because Provodnikov might actually beat Rios, who proved nothing in beating fellow Top Rank fighter Mike Alvarado by a 7th round TKO on October 13th of this month. Rios didn’t look at all good before he hurt Alvarado late in the 6th and stopped him in the next round. Provodnikov is a crude slugger just like Rios, and he could win if he’s able to take Rios’s best shots, unless of course we have another controversial decision like we saw when Rios was given a win over Richard Abril earlier this year.

I don’t think Arum wants to risk putting Rios in with someone halfway decent like Provodniko because the chances are much too high that Rios will lose. He’s obviously one of the best at 140, but there are guys that would do a number on Rios like Lucas Matthysse, Danny Garcia, Ajose Olusegun and possibly Amir Khan. You’re not going to see Rios fight Matthysse, Garcia and Khan unfortunately due to them fighting for Golden Boy promotions. So we’re stuck with the in house club-like fighting with Arum matching Rios against his own fighters like Pacquiao. I suppose Arum can always match Rios up against another one of his stable fighters in Tim Bradley after Pacquiao easily beats Rios next year.

I’m not eager to see Rios face Pacquiao just yet. I’d like to see Rios actually prove himself against a fighter outside of his own Top Rank stable that is better than Alvarado. If Rios can beat Matthysse, Richard Abril or Danny Garcia without controversy, then I wouldn’t mind seeing him fight Pacquiao, but right now Rios is still the same fighter that was dominated by Abril earlier this year, and I don’t think it’s a good fight to put him in with Pacquiao before he’s actually earned it. I can see why Arum would want to put Rios in with Pacquiao as soon as possible, because it’s an in house fight for him and that’s win-win for Arum.

Matching Rios with Pacquiao could also possibly increase Rios’ value by making him a better known fighter with casual boxing fans. If Rios doesn’t get beaten too badly by Pacquiao, he might emerge as a future pay per view fighter for Arum. I can’t see anyone being willing to pay $49.99 to see Brandon Rios fight, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Arum tried to do that in the future if Rios can make a name for himself in fighting Pacquiao.