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Thanks G... Glad you enjoyed it... 
Rios does have some of that boxing pedigree in him, he just doesn't have enough to deal with Manny Pacquiao. On youtube, I took a look at Rios' fights as a prospect. Those fights reinforced my thoughts of him trying to transition to an outside fighter just before facing his best opponent at the highest weight class because he'd lose rounds and, at times, get dominated on the outside by journeymen. It wasn't until he'd realize that he's a beast on the inside that he'd begin to dominate using his strength, pressure, stamina, and accuracy to turn the tides.
In the long run, it helped him find his identity as a pressure and inside fighter because if he kept on trying to box on the outside, he'd be digging himself a hole to have to get out of every fight... Except now they think that he can adjsut to fighting on the outside against one of the best offensive fighters today...
The main reason why is Rios' overall speed. When Barrera made his transition to an outside fighter, he had good hand speed, reflex quickness, solid defense, and fluidity in his counters. Brandon doesn't have that... His speed and sharpness are going to be easlly timed and countered by Pacquiao. Manny's going to time his jab and send a straight left in return until Rios gets reluctant to throw his.
Depending on how quickly Manny's able to get into his offensive rythym (and it shouldn't take long) is when Rios will realize that he is completely outclassed on the outside (because it'll be one way traffic). After that, the game plan gets tossed out and Rios will go back to what he does best. That's when he'll start to land some shots, problem is Manny's going to have more opportunities to land the counter punches that have hurt all of his opponents in the past...
Your last paragraph is on point, I expect Brandon will put in a valiant, quality effort. He'll try hard to make it a fight and will be very aware (on Rios' scale of awareness), but he'll constantly be one step behind and won't be able to make it competitive before he gets stopped.
Rios does have some of that boxing pedigree in him, he just doesn't have enough to deal with Manny Pacquiao. On youtube, I took a look at Rios' fights as a prospect. Those fights reinforced my thoughts of him trying to transition to an outside fighter just before facing his best opponent at the highest weight class because he'd lose rounds and, at times, get dominated on the outside by journeymen. It wasn't until he'd realize that he's a beast on the inside that he'd begin to dominate using his strength, pressure, stamina, and accuracy to turn the tides.
In the long run, it helped him find his identity as a pressure and inside fighter because if he kept on trying to box on the outside, he'd be digging himself a hole to have to get out of every fight... Except now they think that he can adjsut to fighting on the outside against one of the best offensive fighters today...
The main reason why is Rios' overall speed. When Barrera made his transition to an outside fighter, he had good hand speed, reflex quickness, solid defense, and fluidity in his counters. Brandon doesn't have that... His speed and sharpness are going to be easlly timed and countered by Pacquiao. Manny's going to time his jab and send a straight left in return until Rios gets reluctant to throw his.
Depending on how quickly Manny's able to get into his offensive rythym (and it shouldn't take long) is when Rios will realize that he is completely outclassed on the outside (because it'll be one way traffic). After that, the game plan gets tossed out and Rios will go back to what he does best. That's when he'll start to land some shots, problem is Manny's going to have more opportunities to land the counter punches that have hurt all of his opponents in the past...
Your last paragraph is on point, I expect Brandon will put in a valiant, quality effort. He'll try hard to make it a fight and will be very aware (on Rios' scale of awareness), but he'll constantly be one step behind and won't be able to make it competitive before he gets stopped.
Excellent post.
Watching 24/7 Rios scar tissue above his eyes looks bad, I can see a cut opening up and making it even more difficult for him.
I'm just waiting for the David Diaz type interview after
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