Every time Brandon Rios reports for training, he hits the heavy bag with ferocity and slams his sparmates with full force, fearing that by not doing so, he will end up seeing his father not only becoming the butt of jokes during breaktimes but a few bucks poorer as well.
In the final days leading to this Sunday noon?s fight with Manny Pacquiao in Macau, Rios has been pushing himself to the limit, throwing an extra oomph during exchanges and in the padwork and hardly showing signs of letting up.
Rios? father Manuel, who works in a slaughterhouse in Kansas City, has wagered hard with workers in the same plant who have been telling him and pestering him on how Pacquiao would rip up his beloved son in shreds.
?So he?s making bets with everybody there. That gives me more motivation. I don?t want him to lose that money,? Rios told the Ventura County Star, the leading paper that serves the Oxnard area in California where he began the first eight weeks of his training.
For Rios, who is guaranteed a career-high $4 million, it?s a case of not affording to see the soup spill out of the bowl.
As the 27-year-old Rios starts to get used to the local conditions in Macau, where he has been holed up the last five days, it?s becoming clearer what his intentions are when he finally gets to slug it out with his fancied Filipino rival.
?I am going to prove everyone wrong,? said Rios, whose bodyclock has apparently adjusted to the timezone.
Ace publicist Lee Samuels said Rios has been going regularly to a makeshift gym that was put up inside the Venetian Theater at 9 a.m. to better cope with the local conditions.
The fight with Pacquiao will happen between 12 noon and 1 p.m. at the 15,000-seat Cotai Arena.
While Rios is not totally embracing the observation that he has nothing to lose and everything to gain, Rios is not content with just showing up and collecting his fat paycheck, knowing that a victory will open up endless possibilities.
And yes, a win will make Manuel Rios not only a few bucks richer but a master story-teller as well.
