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Brandon Rios recently dismissed comparisons between his own fight with Manny Pacquiao, coming on November 23, and Pacquiao's 2010 fight against his old training camp pal, Antonio Margarito. Robert Garcia, who trained Margarito for that loss and has long been Rios' trainer, agrees that the fights aren't the same, and that Pacquiao is not the same fighter he was against Margarito.
"Three years ago Manny was a different Manny. And another difference, Brandon is 10 years younger than Margarito. Brandon is young and Brandon is hungry. Margarito had already accomplished so much and already had some problems. He was going through a lot of things in his head, with the hand wrap controversy, with the knockout [loss] he had against Mosley. So it's a big difference. Brandon is hungry, Brandon is young and he wants to be the next star."
Rios (31-1-1, 23 KO) was outboxed by Mike Alvarado in March, his first loss as a pro, and has had minimal experience over lightweight. Moving up to welterweight, there's a chance he's not going to be as big as he thinks he will be, but it should also keep him from cutting too much weight, as he usually does.
Will Rios' youth and determination be enough? And if the same Manny Pacquiao we saw pre-KO against Marquez shows up, does that mean Rios just can't win?