Few observations from last night

[Sugar Adam Ali]

Fully agree on Pac. I was surprised to see all the talk about him being dazzling and brilliant. Rios clipped him pretty frequently in the early rounds and Manny didn't look at ease with the pattern of the fight.

Provided his chin held up and his legs were somewhat there he was always going to box the ears off Rios. And it's far from meaningless that both his chin and his legs were up to that task. But no he's not 'back' as so many headlines screamed this morning. The manic energy and rhythm, and the explosiveness in both his legs and upper body isn't what it once was. No surprise really. He's 34 and has had 60+ fights. The decline we're seeing is inevitable.

your absolutely right,, you nailed it... I actually thought in the 3rd round that manny wasnt hurting rios, and rios was gonna walk him down and beat manny up, manny didnt look comfortable at all in the 3rd.. But then manny made a good adjustment and started boxing off his back foot, and avoid rios as much as possible by using angles and footwork, and rios could never find him again after the 3rd..
If it was the manny that fought margs, rios would need a feeding tube right now

[Humean]

Margs was much heavier and so was shane,, i dont think the 9lbs was that big of a difference,, Manny def still has the handspeed, and he still can pop one hard shot, but i thought after 4 rounds his combos were just arm punches, they were fast accurate and straight shots, they just didnt have any pop on them, When manny hit hard it was usually just one shot at a time, but when it was more than one punch his power seemed to not be as strong, and yes rios has a great chin, but so does margs, and shane and manny badly hurt both of those guys and both much bigger than rios. Manny looked to be a speed demon, but his lack of explosiveness is causing his power to level off after a few rounds

Pacquiao didn't knock Margarito down though. Also Margarito was a punching bag who fought back, Rios was merely a punching bag. Rios was in defensive mode all night, only coming to life at all on the inside and even then usually only in the clinches. I saw pacquiao landing quite a lot of combinations although certainly fewer than typical Pacquiao. Rios may have been slightly hurt at times but like I said Rios didn't open up at all so it is not surprising he wasn't seemingly hurt as bad as Margarito was. Why didn't Rios open up? Surely the most likely explanation was that he thought he'd get knocked down?

[Sugar Adam Ali]

[QUOTE=Humean;13962654]

Margs was much heavier and so was shane,, i dont think the 9lbs was that big of a difference,, Manny def still has the handspeed, and he still can pop one hard shot, but i thought after 4 rounds his combos were just arm punches, they were fast accurate and straight shots, they just didnt have any pop on them, When manny hit hard it was usually just one shot at a time, but when it was more than one punch his power seemed to not be as strong, and yes rios has a great chin, but so does margs, and shane and manny badly hurt both of those guys and both much bigger than rios. Manny looked to be a speed demon, but his lack of explosiveness is causing his power to level off after a few rounds

/QUOTE]

Pacquiao didn't knock Margarito down though. Also Margarito was a punching bag who fought back, Rios was merely a punching bag. Rios was in defensive mode all night, only coming to life at all on the inside and even then usually only in the clinches. I saw pacquiao landing quite a lot of combinations although certainly fewer than typical Pacquiao. Rios may have been slightly hurt at times but like I said Rios didn't open up at all so it is not surprising he wasn't seemingly hurt as bad as Margarito was. Why didn't Rios open up? Surely the most likely explanation was that he thought he'd get knocked down?

Margs is much bigger than rios,, There was a huge difference in explosiveness from manny that fought margs and shane and the one that fought rios.. Speed is still there, just not the explosiveness

[ShoulderRoll]

It's still too early to say for sure but Verdejo shows signs of being a great fighter in the future.

For Puerto Rico's sake I hope he does pan out, boxing as a whole benefits when the island is passionate about the sport and turning out champions.

[Humean]

Margs is much bigger than rios,, There was a huge difference in explosiveness from manny that fought margs and shane and the one that fought rios.. Speed is still there, just not the explosiveness

You might be right but i'm not sure you are based on this fight. We'll get a better look against a competitive opponent who will actually fight.

[Sugar Adam Ali]

It's still too early to say for sure but Verdejo shows signs of being a great fighter in the future.

For Puerto Rico's sake I hope he does pan out, boxing as a whole benefits when the island is passionate about the sport and turning out champions.

yeah, i agree, i hope he turns out to be a very very good champion..
He seems to have all the tools you would want in a prospect and top rank is the best in the business in developing talent, so his future looks very bright

[Sugar Adam Ali]

You might be right but i'm not sure you are based on this fight. We'll get a better look against a competitive opponent who will actually fight.

What did you think of the 3rd round, I thought rios was kinda walking thru manny's shots and trapping him in the ropes and corner.. Manny didnt seem to be very comfortable, but in round 4 manny switched it up and started boxing off his back foot and rios had no answer... At that point, manny's combos seemed to be just very quick and straight, but lacked the power. They all seemed to be arm punches ala joe calzaghe except they were straight instead of joe's loopy wide shots

[Humean]

What did you think of the 3rd round, I thought rios was kinda walking thru manny's shots and trapping him in the ropes and corner.. Manny didnt seem to be very comfortable, but in round 4 manny switched it up and started boxing off his back foot and rios had no answer... At that point, manny's combos seemed to be just very quick and straight, but lacked the power. They all seemed to be arm punches ala joe calzaghe except they were straight instead of joe's loopy wide shots

I think he landed harder punches than you are making out I just think that it is hard to stop a guy with a solid chin who has his chin lodged in his chest behind his guard, who doesn't exchange and who is 9 pounds heavier. I didn't think Pacquiao was especially uncomfortable in round 3, it is a perennial weakness of Pacquiao of sometimes being easily pinned on the ropes. He switched to box more and use his movement when he realized that Rios wasn't going to exchange but would only work in the clinch, I think in the early stages he was a lot more flat footed because he wanted to see what Rios was going to offer. I know Rios showed real toughness but I really think Rios's performance was borderline disgraceful considering he was being paid $4 million and it was a ppv fight.

[apocalypto]

Ruiz will be champ. He got off to a bad start but was getting into his rithym when tor quit. He has the speed and power to get to the top. But after yesterday he needs to work on his defence.

[Sugar Adam Ali]

I think he landed harder punches than you are making out I just think that it is hard to stop a guy with a solid chin who has his chin lodged in his chest behind his guard, who doesn't exchange and who is 9 pounds heavier. I didn't think Pacquiao was especially uncomfortable in round 3, it is a perennial weakness of Pacquiao of sometimes being easily pinned on the ropes. He switched to box more and use his movement when he realized that Rios wasn't going to exchange but would only work in the clinch, I think in the early stages he was a lot more flat footed because he wanted to see what Rios was going to offer. I know Rios showed real toughness but I really think Rios's performance was borderline disgraceful considering he was being paid $4 million and it was a ppv fight.

Manny did throw hard shots, but most of his hard shots were single shots down the middle or a right hook behind rios guard, they werent in unison, just one at a time... Those single shots still had alot of power on them, but his combos seemed to be just fast arm punches..
Watch the fight again and after the early rounds, all of manny's hard shots were solo shots down the middle, his combos were not nearly has strong as his solo shots