By Aonist Coles
He is the most recognizable Filipino in the world, and has conquered some of the biggest names the sport of boxing has produced in the last decade. He has blinding speed, and is known worldwide for letting his hands rip! Anybody who has ever seen Manny Pacquiao fight knows that he is coming to close the show. He can hit, he knows he can hit, and he works hard to keep his reputation intact.
For the past few years the hot topic in the sport has been Manny Pacquiao vs Floyd Mayweather Jr. Some fans and boxing analysts even favored him as the number one pound-for-pound fighter, even insisted that he would beat Mayweather until recently.
Manny’s career and pound-for-pound status has taken a free fall. Due to lackluster performances and back to back losses, Mayweather’s former pound-for-pound rival is now fighting for sheer relevance.
With a devastating knockout loss to Juan Manuel Marquez, a lot of fans, and analysts are now questioning the three previous wars between the two fighters. As their last bout came to a dramatic ending, Manny Pacquiao’s pound-for-pound status, pride, ego, and reputation stayed limp on the canvas like a sack of potatoes, as Marquez walked away as the victor of their wars.
As the streets of the Philippines flooded with tears, their beloved superstar returned home eager to get back in the ring and once again prove himself.
Every boxing insider in the world knew that Pacman would need to come back in a safe fight to rebuild his bruised confidence. With a jam packed welterweight division, the question was who would be that “safe opponent?” Bob Arum decided to go south of the welterweight division and get former light king and phone booth brawler Brandon Rios.
On November 23, 2013 the former lightweight champion Brandon Rios (31-1-1 KO 23) is scheduled to take on the future hall of fame superstar Manny Pacquiao (54-5-2 KO 23). On paper it looks like Brandon Rios has been presented to Pacquiao, by Bob Arum as a sacrificial lamb meant to be slaughtered. The Filipino superstar has more knockouts than Rios has fights. Rios is a rising star with a decent fan base, and would seem to be perfect sacrifice to resurrect life into Arum’s dying cash cow.
Stylistically, Rios looks like Ricky Hatton, who was massacred by Pacman in the 2nd round. So it seems like they found the guy who is tailor made to make Pacquiao look good. A win would massage his broken confidence by giving him a glimpse of what he used to be. Also, it would put his fans in the state of mind that their beloved hero is back.
There is only one problem with that scenario. Rios is not Hatton. Hatton was mentally and physically conquered by Floyd Mayweather before stepping into the ring with Manny Pacquiao. Hatton was a shell of his former self. Even with a loss on his record, Rios has never been conquered mentally or physically. He will show up to fight, and he will not second guess his abilities as Hatton did. Rios is a rugged “Rocky Balboa” kind of fighter. He can take a punch and the kid can crack with the best of them.
Manny will obviously be the favorite to win, but you have to ask yourself did the prince of the Philippines just get conquered by Juan Manuel Marquez? A lot of fighters never come back after a brutal knockout loss like the one he suffered to Marquez. Did Roy Jones Jr. come back the same after his knockout loss to Antonio Tarver?
Other questions to consider; What if Rios can take Pacquiao’s punch? After all, Rios does have a proven chin. Any fight with Rios is going to be a dog fight win, lose or draw, which leads to the next question. What if Pacquiao suddenly becomes punch shy in the midst of big exchanges?
All of these questions will be answered soon, and Brandon Rios will be there to answer each question one way or the other.
Ultimately this fight will prove to be a showcase of one or two things. 1.) A showcase of Pacquiao demolishing a hand picked foe meant to compliment his style. 2.) A showcase of everything Manny Pacquiao was and ever will be, as far as boxing is concerned, was left stiff on the canvas in his previous fight with Marquez.
At the end of the day our final question will be answered. Is Manny Pacquiao still a top pound for pound fighter?
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