By Keith Idec

Brandon Rios and his trainer, Robert Garcia, dismissed Timothy Bradley’s contention that they view the WBO welterweight champion as “damaged goods.”

Rios and Garcia expect Bradley to be at his best when they meet Saturday night in HBO’s “World Championship Boxing” main event from UNLV’s Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas (9:30 p.m. ET).

“He can think whatever he wants to think,” Rios said. “I don’t think that. I know Timothy Bradley is still a good fighter. He’s shown that he has heart and that he always comes prepared and he’s always ready to fight. So he can think whatever he wants to think.

“I’m looking at the Timothy Bradley that was on top, the Timothy Bradley that fought Marquez in an excellent fight, the Timothy Bradley that was on top of his career – the one that was named almost the [top] pound-for-pound fighter, I think, the top 10 or something like that. So that’s the Timothy Bradley I’m looking at. So he can think whatever he wants to think. He’s a grown man. I can’t think for him, but I’m just ready for whatever he brings to the ring.”

Bradley feels Rios and Garcia consider him diminished physically because since he out-boxed Mexican legend Juan Manuel Marquez two years ago at Thomas & Mack Cener, Bradley has experienced rough fights against Manny Pacquiao and Diego Chaves and was hurt late in the 12th round of his unanimous-decision victory over Jessie Vargas on June 27 in Carson, California. Nevertheless, Garcia seconded Rios’ assessment of Bradley, who bounced back from a brutal bout against Russia’s Ruslan Provodnikov in March 2013 by producing a masterful performance against Marquez nearly seven months later.

“We’re not preparing for the Timothy Bradley that almost got knocked out by Jessie Vargas,” Garcia said. “We’re preparing for the Timothy Bradley that had his great performances, like the one against Marquez, or before that, when he won his first two titles, the Timothy Bradley that was hungry. That’s what we’re ready for. I think that in training camp, that’s why we trained so hard. We trained for a good 10 weeks, so we are ready for the best Bradley out there.”

The 32-year-old Bradley (32-1-1, 12 KOs, 1 NC), of Palm Springs, California, is a 5-1 favorite over the 29-year-old Rios (33-2-1, 24 KOs), of Oxnard, California.

Keith Idec covers boxing for The Record and Herald News, of Woodland Park, N.J., and BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.