https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=us2-rRCzcj8&feature=youtu.be

By Dan Ambrose: Brandon Rios’s career is on the verge of being over if he loses his fight this Saturday night against WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley (32-1-1, 12 KOs) on HBO Boxing from the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Rios (32-2-1, 24 KOs) has lost 2 out of his last 4 fights, and in reality, Rios has lost 3 out of his last 4 fights because his win over Diego Chaves last year was one in which he would have lost if not for referee Vic Draukulitch bailing him out by disqualifying Chaves for throwing a phantom elbow in the 9th round. Rios would have lost that fight if not for the disqualification.

“If I lose, this could be it for my career. I’m not going to fight for $30,000, or fight on TruTV, Telefutura, Fox, whatever … they won’t pay me what I want. … All I’ve ever done is boxing, so it’s a scary thing to think about,” Rios told the latimes.com. “My wife and I talked about this two months ago. She asked what would happen if I lose.”

I think there’s a very good chance that the 29-year-old Rios will lose this fight, because Bradley is surely going to be looking to box the entire fight rather than punch with Rios. If Bradley uses the hit and run style of fighting on Saturday, Rios won’t have much of a chance of winning, because he’s pretty slow of hand and feet.

A loss for Rios will be his 3rd defeat in his last 5 fights. He can count his win over Chaves as a victory, but the reality is Rios doesn’t match-up with the best welterweights in the division. If he can’t even beat a fighter like Chaves without the referee arguably saving him from oblivion, then Rios is going to need to consider retirement or a move back down in weight. The problem is Rios has been fighting for too long at welterweight, and it’s doubtful that he can lose enough weight to fight at 140 or 135.

“I was thinking, thinking, thinking … honestly, I don’t even know what I’d do. I’m scared. I can’t think about it,” Rios said.

Rios will be getting $1.3 million for the fight. Once he’s taxed and paid off his management team, Rios will likely wind up with a little over $600,000. That’s good money to go along with the big payday he received two years ago in his loss to Manny Pacquiao in 2013. Unlike a lot of fighters, Rios might have enough to retire off of without having to work again if the Bradley is his last one.

I do think Rios is going to lose this fight, so he’s going to need to think about what he wants to do. If Rios’ promoter Bob Arum is willing to keep giving him $1 million for fights against guys like Mike Alvarado and Chaves, then I suspect that Rios will continue to keep fighting. But it doesn’t look like Rios is willing to take a big pay cut to fight normal contenders for the small money.