Manny Pacquiao (55-5-2, 38 KOs) returned from the dead to manhandle Brandon ?Bam Bam? Rios (32-2-1, 23 KOs) over 12 one-sided rounds?
Saturday night at the Venetian-Macau Resort Hotel in Macao, China, Manny Pacquiao, from General Santos City, Philippines, returned from the dead to manhandle Brandon Rios, from Oxnard, California, over 12 one-sided rounds.
Fighting out of the red corner in royal blue trunks trimmed in red, Pacquiao (55-5-2, 38 KOs) came into this fight with much to prove. After losing his last two fights, a questionable decision to Timothy Bradley and a decisive knockout to Juan Manuel Marquez, many wondered just how much Manny had left.
It was up to Rios (31-2-1, 23 KOs), fighting out of the blue corner in green trunks with red and white trim, to answer that question. Bam Bam was bigger than Pacquiao. He was younger than Pacquiao. He was presumably hungrier than Pacquiao. But their respective skills sets are at opposite ends of the spectrum.
The first round set the table for all that followed. Manny looked like the Manny of old. He was fast. His punches were accurate. He was landing combinations upstairs and down. Pacquiao would hit and move, hit and move, firing his left hand lead from a southpaw stance seemingly at will. Rios did some nice work on the inside. But some nice work won?t win a round, not against a whirlwind like Pacquiao. Manny landed 20 punches in round one to 5 for Brandon Rios.
Pacquiao dominated round two. He landed a multi-punch combination and Rios countered with two body shots. Manny responded with a left to the head and a right to the body, followed by an uppercut. Pacquiao?s speed was posing a problem. He landed a three-punch combination. Rios landed a combination of his own. But was Manny was outboxing, outfoxing and outlanding Bam Bam. He was quick as lightning. He was looking good.
Between rounds Freddie Roach told Manny, ?Relax, relax, relax. That was beautiful. Don?t get into fighting yet. Keep boxing this guy.?
After two rounds, Pacquiao had landed 42 of 83 power shots to 18 of 43 for Rios.
Pacquiao let his hands go even more in round three. He was potshotting Rios, who was determined to land a big punch that would turn things around. They were trading leather and throwing bombs, with Pacquiao doing most of the damage. But Pacquiao was a moving target and hard to hit, whereas Rios, not known for his speed, was a sitting duck.
It started falling apart for Rios in rounds five and six. Manny landed a straight left at the start of the fifth that was the best punch of the night so far. He followed that up with hard lefts to the body and another combo upstairs. Rios had begun following Manny around the ring in the hope of landing something. His failure to cut off the ring, or to even attempt cutting off the ring, didn?t reflect well on his trainer and training. Pacquiao, by contrast, upped his workrate. Two- and three-punch combinations were now four- and five-punch combinations. He was hitting with authority. He was in the zone. Rios was bleeding from a cut outside his left eye. He was beginning to bust up.
At the halfway point, Pacquiao had landed 139 of 394. Rios had landed 76 of 269, and the Rios corner, for good reason, was sounding panicky. ?You?ve got to throw more than one punch at a time,? Garcia told him. ?Move side to side.? That was good advice, advice that Rios ignored.
If Manny wasn?t in total control of the fight after six, he was in total control from that point on. Rios? eyes were swelling. He was bleeding. All the lumps and bumps he received were misshaping his already asymmetrical face. While watching Pacquiao landing dynamic combination after dynamic combination, words like paint job, wipeout and shutout came to mind. Rios never quit and never thought of quitting, but his habit of smiling when he gets hit diminished with the number of times he got hit. Garcia tried to cheer Rios on by telling him that Pacquiao was ?tired already,? but it was no more effective than Custer telling his men that victory was at hand, and no more believable.
Rios was slow at the start of the fight and even slower as the fight drew to a close. He was maybe still hoping a Hail Mary would land and turn the tide in his favor, but he was hoping against hope. Manny was on his game. He was superlative. Between rounds 11 and 12 Garcia asked Rios, ?How are you feeling?? and implored him to keep trying, but it was way too little and way too late to make any difference whatsoever.
The judges had it 120-108, 119-109, and 118-110 for Pacquiao.
During the post-fight interview, Pacquiao was as gracious as usual.
?He gave a good fight,? Manny said about Rios. ?If a knockout comes it will come. I try to finish the fight but my opponent is very tough. So I give credit to him. He hit me with a good solid punch and I was hurt. I think it was the fifth round. But my time is not over yet. Rios is not an easy opponent. He?s a good fighter and a strong fighter and I consider this fight as one of the toughest fights in my career. He took a lot of punches, but he still stand up and fight back.?
When asked about the loss, Rios said, ?It?s part of boxing. Manny did a great job. He?s very fast. Power-wise I didn?t feel that much, but his quickness did bother me a little bit. Other than that, I?m good man. I thought I was a four-round fighter, but I go through the 12 rounds. I fought one of the greatest boxers in the world beside Mayweather. He?s very fast, very awkward.?
When Rios says, ?I fought one of the greatest boxers in the world beside Mayweather,? I?m willing to take him at his word.
