Brandon Rios: "I still got the fire in me"

Tomorrow night's fight between Timothy Bradley Jr. and Brandon Rios is an interesting style match to consider, with fight predictions being all over the spectrum. Most believe Bradley will handle Rios with his superior boxing ability, alluded to by Rios being a 5-1 underdog, but even some well respected trainers (such as Freddie Roach), predict that Rios will beat Bradley. When Rios was reminded of being a considerable underdog for the fight, he simply rolled his eyes in irritation.

"I'm just ready for this fight," Rios said a few minutes later when it was turn to speak. "It's about time I get back in the ring. I've been ready for a fight. People can talk but the odds don't bother me. All that's in my mind is going out there and giving a great performance and doing the best that I can do.

"I'm happy to be back in the spotlight. I still got the fire in me. I'm still young, I still got a lot of gas in my tank and I'm not going nowhere yet."

Robert Garcia, who trains Rios, says that they've been preparing themselves for the fight in such a way that they see no other result than Rios beating Bradley. But that'll have to prove itself out come fight night.

"Bradley is short and I don't think he's got the boxing style to do it for 12 rounds," Garcia said. "He can box a little but Brandon has the height advantage. He's bigger in the ring. He'll get him into a fight. Maybe it turns into a war."

Garcia goes on to say that he just thinks Rios is the type of fighter who'll never escape the perception of being a face-first brawler with no defense or discipline, even if he believes that's unfair criticism. Garcia says Rios didn't get the credit he deserved by thrashing Alvarado in their third fight at the top of the year, and even if he beats Bradley, he still won't get credit nort be considered a top welterweight.

Either way, both Rios and Garcia can only focus on the things that they can control. And to that end they don't care much about Bradley's recent switch to trainer Teddy Atlas, as neither of them believe that Atlas can do much to improve Bradley anyway. But going back to Rios' status at the bookies, he only had this to say:

"I don't care about all the BS. All I know is I'm ready for the fight. I can be a 10-1 underdog. I doesn't matter. All this underdog stuff is bull----."