By Ryan Burton
BoxingScene.com recently caught up with world class trainer Robert Garcia who trains a deep stable of fighters out of his Oxnard and Riverside, California gyms.
One of his pupils, Brandon Rios (33-2-1, 24KOs), is currently in camp preparing for his November 7th clash against WBO welterweight champion Timothy Bradley. The fight takes place at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas.
Bradley recently stated that we would like another crack at Manny Pacquiao now that he is being trained by Teddy Atlas. Bradley is 1-1 against Pacquiao, with their first fight being a controversial victory for Bradley. I asked Garcia for his opinion on Bradley's statement.
"That is what people might not see. Bradley might be able to call out Pacquiao even though he lost his last fight to Pacquiao, but if we say we want Pacquiao next people are going to say we are idiots for calling out Pacquiao," Garcia reasoned.
Garcia feels that there is a double standard against his fighter and he believes that the 2015/2016 version of Brandon Rios would be a lot more competitive against the Filipino.
"If (Bradley) gets a third fight people might say that is a good fight but if Brandon calls out Pacquiao people are going to say that is stupid. People don't know that when Brandon fought Pacquiao - Brandon isn't what he is right now. He wasn't training as hard. His head was a little too big. He didn't listen plus he had a really bad injury since the second Alvarado fight. People don't realize and we never told anybody because we don't make excuses. I am not saying we lost because of that injury or that he would have won but Brandon would have had a better chance. We will let Cameron Dunkin do the negotiating and handle the business and we will get ready for any fight," Garcia told BoxingScene.com.
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