Brandon Rios to Add Victor Conte to Team After Weight Struggles

by Scott Christ on Dec 6, 2011 6:20 PM EST in Boxing News Analysis

Brandon Rios will be adding Victor Conte to his team, but will it help? (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)

Brandon Rios, who lost his WBA lightweight title on the scales before his TKO win over John Murray on Saturday night in New York, will be adding nutritionist and all-around conditioning guru Victor Conte to his team, according to manager Cameron Dunkin. From The Ring:

"We're going to bring in Victor Conte. I'm going to have him send me a real diet for Brandon. Brandon is a kid who doesn't mind exercise, but he's going to have to train more. ... [H]e'll put him on the right foods. We'll talk to Conte, but we're not going to ask Brandon to become what he isn't."

Honestly, and I don't mean this at some big slam toward Cameron Dunkin, if they want to maximize Brandon Rios instead of just letting him have the career his regular habits have, pushing him to be something he currently isn't but could be is probably a good idea. Dunkin also manages Kelly Pavlik, who was never pushed too hard to be something he isn't, and look how that's turned out.

Rios is very good. He's very tough, he hits hard, and he takes a shot with the best of them. He can beat better boxers simply because he's almost impossible to back down.

[ Related: Rios vs Mike Alvarado Next? ]

And it's not just this one fight; he's struggled to make weight for fights where he did hit the 135 pound limit. He's a huge lightweight, and not exactly the most cut guy in the world, either. He puts on weight between fights. Dunkin says he's got a fast food issue.

It makes sense to bring in Conte, but you can't just have Conte give him a diet and expect him to stick to it. This has to become a serious adjustment from Brandon Rios, or his time at the top will be even shorter than his fighting style would dictate. If he's purely hard-wired to be who he is, then there will be trouble sooner than later making weight at 140 or 147, too. They have to attack this problem. Conte would be a good move, but not unless they're seriously dedicated to using him properly.

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They're risking serious brand damage here...

move him up and do it now. The last thing you want (aside from serious health issues) is for Brandon to miss weight again and have that become something he’s “notorious for” or, even worse, have an HBO broadcast canned or significantly altered because he misses weight and his opponent turns down the fight the night before.

Keeping him at lightweight is simply bad management.

Managing Editor - BloodyElbow.com - SBNation's mixed martial arts headquarters.

by Brent Brookhouse on Dec 6, 2011 6:27 PM EST reply actions

In the article, it seems to imply that the plan is to move him up to 140, but that they’re going to at least explore whether a diet change could allow Rios to make 135 without killing himself:

Although Rios will likely rise into the junior welterweight or 140-pound class for the future, Dunkin said he wants to make sure that would be the right move at this time.
“Maybe he can’t make 135 anymore, but we’re going to keep him away from too much fast food and we’re going to have to talk about it,” said Dunkin.

by Verklemptomaniac on Dec 6, 2011 7:27 PM EST up reply actions

Kinda depends. If he can make the weight easily if he sticks to a leaner diet then I’m ok with him staying at 135. However, if he is simply too big for that weight anymore, then he should move to 140 or 147. During that move he really would need someone like Conte to manage the weight gain appropriately. Adding Conte to the team is a great idea, but the whole team needs to be committed to the idea or else it is destined to fail.

"The bell that tolls for all in boxing belongs to a cash register."
-Bob Verdi

by Waldo Rastel on Dec 6, 2011 8:14 PM EST up reply actions