After sixty-one fights and eighteen years as a pro, it’s easy to see how one opponent may blend into the next, making generalizations possible with foes of similar temperament and/or style.
However, if Manny Pacquiao lets that happen in his upcoming November 23 bout with Brandon “Bam Bam” Rios in Macau, China, he may be in for an ugly, career-ending surprise.
In anticipation of HBO’s 24/7 Pacquiao/Rios miniseries, which debuts this Saturday, November 9 at 12:15 p.m. ET/PT on HBO, several quotes from the eight-division world champ were released to the media. These statements lead one to believe that Pacquiao may possibly be making a serious tactical flaw in his assessment of Rios as an opponent by lumping the Mexican-American battler into the same exact category as former Pacquiao KO victim, Ricky Hatton.
“My gameplan for Rios will be similar to the one I had for Ricky Hatton,” Pacquiao said. “That fight didn’t go long enough for me to unveil everything. Maybe this time I’ll be able to show more of that plan. Maybe.”
Superficially, Rios and Hatton have some things in common. For instance, both are aggressive fighters who prefer coming forward on the attack rather than playing back foot counter puncher. But, really, that’s where the similarities end.
Aside from being an all-around better fighter than Hatton, Rios is taller, physically stronger, and a blessed with a longer reach. Technically, he’s also a more versatile fighter with more tools, both on offense and defense, than the former two-division world champ from the UK.
It also shouldn’t be forgotten that the Hatton who fought Pacquiao was by no means the best version of the Manchester battler. Weakened by yo-yoing weight issues and a penchant for partying, Hatton was all but finished when Pacquiao put him out of his misery in 2009 via second round knockout. It may also be safe to say that Pacquiao, four years and seven fights later may not be quite as sharp as he was for the Hatton fight.
Attempts to categorize and classify Rios during this pre-fight hype have, so far, failed miserably. He is no flat-footed battler like Hatton; neither is he a stiff-legged, lurching punching machine like Antonio Margarito.
The one thing that everything does know, however, is that Rios will be coming to take the fight to Manny.
“Rios is an aggressive fighter,” Pacquiao said via press release. “He likes to fight on the inside and toe-to-toe. He likes to fight, period. It will be a very entertaining fight for the fans. It will be all-action. A real fight and not a track meet. I am 100% confident of winning this fight. The focus of this camp has been on speed and footwork, which have been my advantages in previous successful fights. I’ll be more careful to avoid the careless error I made against M?rquez.”
Pacquiao is good enough to fight the wrong fight and still come out on top. But if the Filipino icon is looking to beat Rios with some general strategy used against aggressive opponents, essentially over-simplifying what makes “Bam Bam” special, he may be in for a truly rough, painful evening.
