MANILA, Philippines – Brandon Rios will find himself severely lacking when he goes up against a rapid punching Manny Pacquiao, according to a fighter who has already beaten the Filipino superstar.
WBO welterweight titlist Timothy Bradley said that although he thinks Rios is the bigger puncher, he believes Pacquiao’s speed will be too much for the Mexican-American to handle.
“There is always risk when you are in there with a big puncher, absolutely, but like I always tell everybody, speed kills, speed kills in every sport, it does not matter what sport it is,” Bradley, who edged Pacquiao via a controversial split decision, said in an interview with On The Ropes Boxing Radio.
Bradley added that Rios tends to slug it out while applying pressure on his opponents. This, he said, makes the Mexican-American vulnerable to Pacquiao’s quick and well-timed strikes.
“Rios is not a real big defensive guy at all. He keeps his hands high, but Pacquiao is the kind of fighter that punches through guards,” he said.
“I feel that he’s going to punch through Rios’ guard and pick him to pieces.”
Bradley said that if Pacquiao successfully hits Rios with regularity, that is a possibility that the Mexican brawler might succumb to pressure and go down.
“I don’t know if he’ll knock him out, but there’s a possibly that he can, he can bust him up and possibly get him out of there,” he said.
Former junior welterweight contender Marcos Maidana begged to disagree with Bradley.
Maidana, who trains with Rios under boxing coach Robert Garcia, said Rios is the younger and hungrier fighter.
He stressed that with youth, the 27-year-old Mexican-American can offset any advantage the 34-year-old Pacquiao might have.
“His (Pacquiao) speed and his strength and his boxing ability could give him problems. But Brandon is Brandon and he’ll definitely overcome that,” said the Argentine boxer in Hustle Boss.
“[Brandon is] a fighter and like I said, he has the youth, and that’s going to be a major factor,” Maidana added.
source: www.abs-cbnnews.com
