Bradley vs. Rios

By Dan Ambrose: 29-year-old Brandon Rios (33-2-1, 24 KO) says he doesn’t care if WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley (32-1-1, 12 KOs) elects to box this Saturday night because he plans on cutting off the ring and forcing the 32-year-old champion to fight whether he wants to or not.

Bradley has a new trainer in Teddy Atlas, but about the only thing that he’ll be able to add to Bradley’s game that he doesn’t already have it to make him more mobile and less focused on punching it out with his opponents.

read more

(Photo Credit: Chris Farina/Top Rank) By Tim Fletcher: Brandon Rios (33-2-1, 24 KOs) needs a win this Saturday night against WBO 147lb champion Tim Bradley (32-1-1, 12 KOs) to get some of the bigger fights that his promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank is interested in making for him if he wins. A loss for the 29-year-old Rios would be a brutal disaster that he cannot afford right now.

In Rios’ last fight against Mike Alvarado, Rios came into the fight with his career on the line and with him not in the position to lose. Fortunately for Rios, Alvarado was not the same fighter he’d been in their first two fights. There are a lot of boxing fans who think that Rios has taken too many head shots in his recent fights, and they feel that he needs to get out of the sport before he gets really hurt.

read more

(Photo credit Top Rank/Chris Farina) By Dan Ambrose: WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley’s new trainer Teddy Atlas says he’s spent a lot of time with Bradley studying video of former WBA lightweight champion Brandon Rios’ past fights in order to scout out the weaknesses in his game so that they can capitalize on it when the two fighters face each other on HBO on November 7th at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Atlas is seen by Bradley as a wise trainer that can help him beat the top guys like Rios. However, Bradley is going to need to fight a lot better than he has recently in his last three fights because he’s put in uneven performances in his last three fights against Jessie Vargas, Diego Chaves and Manny Pacquiao.

read more

(Photo credit: Top Rank/Chris Farina) By Dan Ambrose: Trainer Robert Garcia doesn’t think that new trainer Teddy Atlas will be able to make much of an impact to the style of WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley (32-1-1, 12 KOs) in the six weeks that he’ll have trained him by the time Bradley faces Brandon Rios (33-2-1, 24 KOs) on HBO Championship Boxing on November 7th at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Garcia expects Bradley to still be pretty much the same fighter that he’s always been because he’s 32-years-old now and he’s already a complete fighter. Bradley only gives you two looks; He’s either moving around on the outside with the hit and style he used in his first fight against Manny Pacquiao or he comes right at you looking to slug it out. Garcia will have Rios ready for both of Bradley’s only two styles.

read more

By Tim Fletcher: Former WBA lightweight belt holder Brandon Rios (33-2-1, 23 KOs) will be making his first appearance in 10 months when he faces WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley (32-1-1, 12 KOs) next month on November 7th on HBO from the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Rios, 29, needs a win over Bradley to get back to the top where he’s been absent for so many years. Rios hasn’t had a world title in his possession since 2011.

read more

By Dan Ambrose: #3 WBO Brandon Rios (33-2-1, 24 KOs) says he was afraid when he faced off with WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley (32-1-1, 12 KOs) for their recent press conference to promote their November 7th fight on HBO Championship Boxing from the Thomas & Mack Center, in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Rios, 29, obviously wasn’t serious about him being afraid of Bradley, but you can’t blame Rios if he was a little afraid. Bradley was really giving him dirty looks during the face off and trying his best to get in his head mentally with the stare down.

read more

By Tim Fletcher: There’s a lot of questions about whether #3 WBO Brandon Rios (33-2-1, 24 KOs) has the talent or not to defeat WBO welterweight champion Timothy Bradley (32-1-1, 12 KOs) on November 7th in their fight on HBO Championship Boxing from the Thomas & Mack Center, in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Bradley is now with trainer Teddy Atlas, and he’s the type of trainer that believes in having his fighters play to their strengths’ rather than to their weaknesses. Atlas almost surely going to insist in a very forceful manner that Bradley focuses on boxing Rios and not standing in front of him and going toe-to-toe.

read more

By Dan Ambrose: WBO welterweight title holder Timothy Bradley (32-1-1, 12 KOs) thinks that the addition of trainer Teddy Atlas to his team will help get him ready for anything that challenger Brandon Rios (33-2-1, 23 KOs) brings to the table on November 7th in their fight on HBO Championship Boxing from the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.

At Wednesday’s kick off news conference Bradley and Rios talked about their upcoming fight. Bradley recently switched out Atlas for Joel Diaz as his trainer. Bradley thinks that the well-spoken Atlas can help fix the holes in his game.

read more

By Dan Ambrose: Top Rank will need to work out a deal with #1 WBO 147lb contender Sadam Ali (22-0, 13 KOs) for a step aside payment so that the November 7th fight between Top Rank fighters WBO welterweight champion Timothy Bradley (32-1-1, 12 KOs) and #3 WBO Brandon Rios (33-2-1, 24 KOs) will have Bradley’s WBO title on the line when the two of them square off at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Ali, who is promoted by Golden Boy Promotions, has no interest in stepping aside to wait for the Bradley-Rios fight to take place before he gets his title shot. He just wants to fight Bradley right now.

read more