By Edward Chaykovsky
Brandon Rios (31-1-1, 22KOs) might be moving up in weight, but he won't be the smaller man when he faces eight division world champion Manny Pacquiao (54-5-2, 38KOs) in a welterweight contest on November 23rd in Macau, China. Pacquiao has fought as high as junior middleweight, where he captured the WBC title, but weighed in nearly ten pounds pounds below the limit. At welterweight, Pacquiao often weighs several pounds below the welterweight limit of 147-pounds.
"I am not smaller. At the press conference I believe he was smaller than me so I am not the smaller guy here. If you say that, your eyes are deceiving you because I am not smaller than Pacquiao, Pacquiao is smaller than me," Rios said.
The promoter of Pacquiao and Rios, Top Rank's Bob Arum, was at Pacquiao's training camp and said the Filpino star was only 142-pounds when he left him. Rios says he is weighing around 152, needing to shave off five pounds by the fight date.
"That is a good point that Brandon raises. Pacquiao is a much smaller guy. Brandon towers over Pacquiao; Brandon is much taller than Pacquiao. As far as the weight is concerned, that is one of Freddie’s biggest problems. Manny is working so hard and he is so light that he is going back is eating five meals a day in order to keep his weight. In other words, now he is probably five pounds under the welterweight limit," Arum said.
"I don’t think [Rios is bigger], I know. He is much bigger than Pacquiao. He is taller, his reach is longer and probably today he weighs more, probably ten pounds more than Manny. And Manny was 142 when I left him in General Santos City."
