Comments Thread For: “Bam Bam’s” Act Long on Thrills, Short on Excellence

[Cali boxer]

He didn't **** on their excitement to give us an entertaining fight. He just said that Rios isn't a very skilled fighter. He isn't there isn't much in the way you can say to back up saying he is. Exciting yes...but that's about all.

Exciting yes...but that's about all.Well I guess that's not good enough huh? Isn't that why we watch fights for the excitement or would you rather watch the skill of Alexander vs. Bradley. I thought so. Appreciate Bam Bam for what he is, an all action fighter, because some day he will be done just like Gatti and then you'll miss his fights.

[John Barron]

I agree only to an extent. he should not be fighting top fighters, he should more of a test for prospects coming up to get to those top fighters. rios will never be any better than he is, and gatti was WAAAAY more valuable to hbo than rios. gatti you could appreciate fully, rios, if you appreciate him, youre appreciating his chin and his power, nothing else...

i'm not big on rios but i can also appreciate his heart. remember he was getting outboxed and beaten up by acosta and alvarado but he still got those guys outta there. also that one dude who beat him pillar to post in the first round. rios got up and beat that guy too. he ain't a wordsmith but damn he can fight.

[2501]

Floyd fans. nuff said.

[niceyboo3]

This author has major league penis envy. Anyone who think Lhan wouldn't get ko'd within four by Rios needs a CAT scan. Lamont Peterson and Danny Daddy's boy Garcia-- are you serious... He's going to lose to the corpse of Erik Morales on Saturday. Quit letting your sore devastated bung hole over Rios making fun of Roach inform your judgement of him as a fighter.

Khan would beat Rios. I would bet real money on that...

[rudyyr]

This Author is an idiot! I guess he doesnt realize what sells fights. There is a certain science to matchmaking, which I think gets overlooked too often. Abril vs Rios was already an issue stylistically coming in to the fight and I wasn't surprised how poorly Rios performed. I am not saying Abril is an elite fighter cuz he is not and therefore I wont say Rios got exposed by a better fighter. Ultimately the promoters want to sell fights the people(the masses) want to watch. So even though Rios has his weaknesses, a part of the reason he is exciting is because of his style.
In regards to Khan, I remember watching him for the first time after hearing so much hype about him and was not impressed at all. I agree with the fact that khan might beat Rios, especially if he does his usual running and holding, the only excitement would be if Rios connects on that weak chin.

[Motofan]

By Lyle Fitzsimmons - Don’t get me wrong, folks. I’m all for excitement.

When two guys meet in ring center, drop all pretense about a battle of skills and simply stand toe to toe with designs on bashing each other into submission, I get as into it as the next guy.

I appreciated Gatti and Ward. I was in awe of Corrales and Castillo. And I watched with admiration on Saturday night when Brandon Rios and Mike Alvarado woke up their predecessors’ brutal echoes.

I humbly concede that the amount of heart, soul and guts that it takes to engage in such a competition – win, lose or draw – goes far beyond the capacity of keyboard-bashing wannabes like me.

In fact, none of us with a shred of integrity would even try to imply otherwise.

But excitement is one thing. Excellence is quite another.

And as titillating as the 1,316 throws and 337 lands might have been to the thousands in attendance and millions tuning in, they weren’t close to proving either the Coloradan or Californian were at all capable of handling a qualified foe whose skills had evolved much past a caveman’s.

Lest anyone forget, the Rios who’s being so breathlessly celebrated today is the same guy whose acumen was in doubt only six months ago, when an opponent with a strategy beyond smash and grab did everything but win on two of the year’s most nose-curdling scorecards.

Heck, that was only Richard Abril – a 29-year-old Cuban with a middling resume – and the springtime odor in Las Vegas was so bad that even the fairness-challenged WBA allowed him to keep hold of an interim title belt in spite of a decision officially split in the direction of his opponent.

But now, after 20 minutes of lumpy mayhem against a 32-year-old with a career’s worth of mid-card victims, Rios has somehow been vaulted past the guy who schooled him and into the high-end element of legit multiple-division en****** like Juan Manuel Marquez and Manny Pacquiao. [Click Here To Read More]

I agree 100% and have been saying as much (and being red k'd for it) for a while. Rios is a B or B- fighter on his best day. He went life and death with a guy who had zero good wins, and who was bloody and battered by Prescott. Rios should have lost already, and the second he fights a top level opponent he is getting picked apart and exposed as what he is. A club fighter.

[Kartier]

Brandon is on EPO and Gloves LOADED

There is way that anyone that truly knows boxing is going to fall for brandos performance on saturday he was tweeking before his fight the look in his eyes and the way he walked threw punches of a much heavier bigger man yet he was dropped before in his career and richard abril prior to that was chippin em??? Alvarados face was grotescly swollen reminded of cotto vs Margarito 1. Of coarse received tons of leather BUT GOT STRONGER LANDED YET HIS PUNCHES GOT HARDER IN THE LATER ROUNDS JUST LIKE MARGACHEATER WOULD!!!!! A BLOODTEST IN THE REMATCH WITH ****M RICHARDSON KEEPING AN EYE ON HIS GLOVES I WILL GUARANTEE YOU THAT HE WILL BE STOPPED N BEATEN THE SAME WAY MARGARITO WAS IN THE 2ND FIGHT VS COTTO!!!!

[Cuauhtémoc1520]

I understand his point and I agree with the fact you aren't looking at the best skilled fighters on the planet in Rios and Alvarado but boxing isn't always about the more skilled.

Sometimes heart and balls win you fights and that's the brutal aspect of boxing so many purists want to dismiss. I love a great skilled fighter but if it wasn't for balls, heart and will....sh.it, there may have never been a Mexican champion and that's coming from a Mexican.

I love Rios' style, he's great for boxing and to make an article like this to be honest only diminishes what he's done with that supposed little amount of skill. In the end, boxing needs fights like this, and the difference in styles is what has made boxing the most exciting sport on the planet IMO.

If everyone was as skilled as Floyd, we would never have these types of wars, this type of drama and fighters who show where their heart on their sleeves so to speak.

It's great to have the Floyd Mayweather's, the Pernell Whitakers, the Oscar De Lahoya's of the world, but it's also great to have the Rocky Graziano's, the Arturo Gattis' and yes, the Brandon Rios' of the world too.

[ddangerous]

I guess excellent inside fighting skills doesn't count as an attribute worthy of the term "Excellence".

WAR BAM BAM

[ManOnTheMoon]

defense is sometimes very subtle. Rios rarely gets hit flush in trouble areas like the jaw,temple,nose,mouth. Knowing how to receive punches is probably the most under-rated skill in the sport today.