Brandon Rios says he’ll be back at top after beating Danny Garcia

By Boxing News - 02/08/2018 - Comments

Image: Brandon Rios says he’ll be back at top after beating Danny Garcia

By Dan Ambrose: Brandon ‘Bam Bam’ Rios (34-3-1, 25 KOs) is hoping to turn his career around with a victory over Danny ‘Swift’ Garcia (33-1, 19 KOs) on February 17th. Rios, 31, thinks a win over Garcia will bring him back to the top of the 147 lb. division.

(Photo credit: Idris Erba/Team Brandon Rios)

Rios has been picked out by Team Garcia as the sacrificial lamb. Rios is a faded fighter with a recognizable name that Danny Garcia is fighting to get a guaranteed victory without having to take a risk by fighting one of the talented welterweights like Shawn Porter. IBF welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr. offered Garcia a title shot, but he chose Rios. That is clear sign that Garcia views Rios as food. It’s a payday against an arguably over-the-hill fighter in Rios, whose best days in the sport passed him by in 2011 after he moved up to 140.

Rios has never been one of the best at welterweight. He was at his best at lightweight where he held the WBA 135 lb. title for a short period of time in 2011. Rios lost the WBA title after he came in over the lightweight limit in his fight against John Murray in December 2011.

I’m sparring young cats. They are hungry and they want to prove a point. They have really been pushing me and Robert (Garcia) has done a good job along with Donald (Leary) in this camp. As long as I beat Danny Garcia, it puts me back on top!” Rios said.

Rios hasn’t been at the top for many years. Like I said, Rios was never at the top at 147, ever. Rios moved up to welterweight in November 2013 for his fight against Manny Pacquiao, and he badly lost that fight by a 12 round unanimous decision in Macao, China. I hate to be critical of Rios, but he looked like a punching bag against Pacquiao. It wasn’t even a fight. It was a farce. Pacquiao used Rios as a tune-up fight following his bad knockout loss to Juan Manuel Marquez from a year earlier in December 2012. Rios wasn’t at the top of the welterweight division. He was food for Pacquiao.

Rios doesn’t belong at 147. He’s not fast enough, powerful enough or big enough naturally to hang with the best fighters in the division. He needs to move back down to 140, but he probably won’t or can’t at this point in his 14-year pro career.

Rios has losses to Mike Alvarado, Manny Pacquiao, and Tim Bradley. Rios should have a defeat to Richard Abril in their fight in April 2012, as he appeared to lose that fight but was a 12 round split decision. At the time, Rios was signed with promotional powerhouse Top Rank, and he was the A-side for the Abril fight. Many boxing fans saw Rios losing to Abril, as did I. Rios should also have a defeat to Diego Chaves, but the referee disqualified the Argentinian fighter in the 9th round for him supposedly throwing an elbow.

I looked at the replay of the entire 9th round of the Rios-Chaves fight, and I can’t see any elbows being thrown by Chaves. I’ve seen the round in slow motion. Rios lucked out big time with the referee disqualifying Chaves, because the he ahead on the scorecards with 1 round remaining. That would have been another loss for Rios along with the Abril fight.

“We are expecting the best Danny Garcia,” Rios said. “Many say that he is a cherry picker. Well if he is picking a cherry, he will find himself a wild berry. I’m coming to win, my hunger, drive and determination to win again. I will do whatever it takes to win.”

Rios best chance of beating Garcia is to try and wear him down with body shots and pressure in the first half of the fight, and then go for the knockout in the last half. Rios has increase the pressure in the last 6 rounds of their fight to have a chance of winning. Garcia does well when his opponents fight timidly, as we saw in the second half of his last fight against Keith ‘One Time’ Thurman last March. Garcia was getting clowned in the first 6 rounds by an aggressive Thurman. It wasn’t until the second half of the fight that Garcia started to fight well, and that was only because Thurman fought like he was afraid.

If Rios beats Garcia, his best option to fight for a world title – and win – is against WBA World welterweight champion Lucas Matthysse. Rios might have a chance of beating the 35-year-old Matthysse if he can get him in a war and wear him down. It’s still very doubtful that Rios can beat a fighter as powerful as Matthysse, but he would have a chance. Like Rios, Matthysse isn’t a true welterweight, and he’s getting old and doesn’t look like the same fighter that he once was a few years ago. Rios wouldn’t stand a chance against the other top welterweights Thurman and Errol Spence Jr. I don’t see Jeff Horn or Terence Crawford as possible options for Rios.