Revisiting Rios vs Abril

[CubanGuyNYC]

...Its so obvious that Rios was horribly weight drained. Excuse or not, he was. He was lethargic, slow as hell, his punches had nothing on them and he looked like he was going to collapse out there. He was not himself. I don't understand how anyone can deny that.

Second, I fail to see how Abril "schooled" him. At first he was outboxing Rios a bit, but in the latter rounds he was just standing there letting Rios whack on his arms. Hardly a schooling, more like just winning.

So explain to me how that fight proves anything other than he shouldn't have been fighting at that weight.

I agree that Rios was weight drained. That seemed obvious. But from what I saw, Abril would convincingly beat him again. Weakness didn't beat "Bam Bam", a superior boxer did.

And as for the "schooling" issue, I think "Streetwaves" says it well below:

Making a fighter look like an amateur that has no way of dealing with you is schooling him. Don't get it twisted: Abril didn't even excessively hold. After a while he just started going into a shell rather than clinching, and Rios still couldn't figure out what to do whatsoever.

Abril outboxed him, took all of his tools away, and made him look bad. It was a thorough schooling. If you literally are dictating the way the entire fight is going, you're taking the opponent to school. I'd still heavily favor Abril in a rematch. Abril is easy to rob, but hard to beat.

[Ray*]

Too much excuses in this thread, Rios was schooled deal with it... Like someone already pointed out he could have been drained but Rios had what a two weeks notice for this fight? He clinched? Lol maybe he should have dropped his hands and allow free at his face.

[ElMeroChingon]

Making a fighter look like an amateur that has no way of dealing with you is schooling him. Don't get it twisted: Abril didn't even excessively hold. After a while he just started going into a shell rather than clinching, and Rios still couldn't figure out what to do whatsoever.
.

Lol wtf are you talking about, he clinched from round one till the end of the fight. Abril stayed in his shell for 1min, clinched, then went back to the shell for another 2min all while doing nothing. You have to do something to school someone, schooling is not bringing both fighter to a halt, thats called "stinking up the joint", plain a simple.

[ElBossHogg™]

Lol wtf are you talking about, he clinched from round one till the end of the fight. Abril stayed in his shell for 1min, clinched, then went back to the shell for another 2min all while doing nothing. You have to do something to school someone, schooling is not bringing both fighter to a halt, thats called "stinking up the joint", plain a simple.

But he schooled him right?

LOl these people are funny, I dont call that schooling at all.

[frosty-g]

So explain to me how that fight proves anything other than he shouldn't have been fighting at that weight.

erm, the complete lack of skill and tactics, and certainly no plan b, were not because he was weight drained mate.
it was because ríos is thick and extremely limited.

[frosty-g]

If you don't back away from Rios and you just stay in the Pocket like Abril did, you can pick him apart inside...Rios will kill you if you back away and allow yourself to get caught up against the Ropes, that is what Abril did, he stayed in that Shell and basically gave Rios no space to get off with that Power

shame ríos didn't have either the brains or skills to create himself a tiny bit of space to work then really isn't it?

[Alx.]

That's different. I agree he can be outboxed but I just don't think the Abril fight proved this or at least its greatly exaggerated.

it is very exaggerated

[frosty-g]

But he schooled him right?

you know that video you've posted - you do realise the vast majority of that is not clinching right? not the prettiest of things but neither is standing with your head buried in someone's chest a la brandon ríos (in fact i think that looks far worse and certainly is far worse from a technical perspective - eg vision, balance, leverage, defence etc et-bloody-cetera)

ríos is so close to abril that he can't do any work - why didn't he move to the side or take a couple of quick steps back to find the space to work?
why is it abril could still work despite being stood well upright whilst being the taller fighter?

ríos don't know **** bout boxing, all he can do is have a brawl - ain't even that good at that evidently

[JDezi4]

It wasn't the "schooling" people make it out to be

It never is...

[CubanGuyNYC]

Lol wtf are you talking about, he clinched from round one till the end of the fight. Abril stayed in his shell for 1min, clinched, then went back to the shell for another 2min all while doing nothing. You have to do something to school someone, schooling is not bringing both fighter to a halt, thats called "stinking up the joint", plain a simple.

If you watch that heavily edited video "ElBossHogg" posted, where several of the same holds were repeated for effect, then it would appear that Abril clinched far more often than he really did. Even then, the video clearly shows Richard crowding Rios, while in a "Philly" shell, and "Bam Bam" swinging away at him as if Abril were a punching bag. No clinching. The author of the video complains that Richard was giving Brandon no leverage to throw punches. Oh? I didn't know the object of the game was to give your opponent every opportunity to knock your block off! lmfao

The fact is, if you watch the whole fight, Abril held when he needed to and punched when he saw the opportunity. As "Frosty-G" points out, Rios should've adjusted and tried to create room for himself. He didn't. Although, based on what I saw, Richard would've probably just continued the boxing lesson and shown Brandon precisely how you counter whatever adjustments he might've made.