BRANDON RIOS INKED TO FACE MANNY PACQUIAO
San Francisco, CA– Well its official, Manny Pacquiao will meet Brandon Rios on the greatest day of any year, November 24, in a place Hall of Fame writer/broadcaster Larry Merchant calls, ” Las Vegas on steroids,” Macau, the former Portuguese colony that reverted back to the Chinese in 1999. As far as getting bang for the buck, taking Manny Pacquiao to China is the thing to do. The negative is that in order to broadcast the fight in the United States, we’re looking at a 10 AM Sunday morning start.
MANNY NOW GAMBLES WITH LIFE
Having been known as a man who likes to bet on rooster fights, pool hall competition, some blackjack, Manny is now said to have abandoned all of his vices (poor guy) and is living a “cleaner” life. But has that change of lifestyle been beneficial to Manny Pacquiao the boxer? Rumors of almost Voo Doo like settings that were said to have involved the consumption of somebody else’s blood, this as Pacquiao left the Catholic church for a Born Again sect of Christianity.
NEW RELIGION GOOD FOR BOXER PAC?
Obviously not as he has lost two in a row. Now while some may feel the Tim Bradley contest was controversial to say the least, one cannot say the same with the ending of the Juan Manuel Marquez fight. With one punch an entire country was silenced as Manny lay motionless in a horizontal position in Las Vegas. Having been around this a while, knockouts don’t get much nastier than the face planting shot that Marquez perfectly timed shot that caught the rallying Pacquiao on the button!
RIOS MORE THAN JUST A SPEED BUMP!
The decision to go against Rios is a hell of a gamble. Although he is a piece of dung as a person, Brandon Rios is an OK fighter who will likely be in the best shape of his life come November 24. I am of the opinion that Manny should have been given an easy fight, one where the result is almost predetermined. Why would I while I condone or promote such a thought? Because Manny Pacquiao is not just a Philippine national commodity, he has been an iconic figure for the sport of boxing worldwide.
WHERE’S BLINKY WHEN YOU NEED HIM?
If this were the days of the Mafia controlling boxing, Frankie Carbo would get on the phone with Robert Garcia, the trainer of Rios, and flat out tell him that Brandon was not only not winning the fight, but he would do so in a specific round. Manny Pacquiao is a multi million-dollar entity all to himself, and we are of the opinion that he needs to be protected.
FORGET BOXING, WHAT ABOUT MANNY’S LIFE?
Putting him in the ring with Brandon Rios is the equivalent of playing Russian roulette with both the career and life of the Pacman. If he is “damaged” goods, something none of us, not even Pacquiao himself knows, then he could get seriously hurt in this fight. Seeing the Filipino has done all that he has for and in boxing, why risk it with Manny Pacquiao? Everybody knows that boxing needs that scenario about as much as it needs less regulation.
CALL TO OR FROM MAFIA NOT AN OPTION IN 2013
Seeing the aforementioned Mr. Carbo and partner Blinky Palermo no longer call the shots, fixing the fight is not an option. So if you cannot guarantee a victory over fellow Top Rank stablemate Rios for Pacquiao, and you can’t, why is promoter Bob Arum willing to roll the dice, play Russian roulette, etc., with his biggest cash cow? It doesn’t make sense, dollars or cents, as we need to be real careful with both Manny Pacquiao the human being and to a lesser extent the boxer.
MANNY NEEDS A GUARANTEE WIN TYPE OF OPPONENT
If you listen to my radio show of late, you know I am of the opinion that Manny Pacquiao should be fighting a Bruce “The Mouse” Strauss type of foe. Having went against fighters better than he more than a couple of times, “The Mouse” told me that when he felt, “The fight was no longer competitive,” Strauss would find a way out that didn’t bring about a riot or the like. Bruce was a true professional, a professional loser who could fight a little with a record of 77-53-6, 53 KOs.
CAN YOU SEE A DON KING-LIKE MOVE FROM BOB ARUM?
If Pacquiao flops like a fish out of water and loses, Bob Arum might look to pull a Don King move. When Joe Frazier went into the ring with George Foreman in 1973, King was with him. After Pastor Foreman all but decapitated World heavyweight champion Frazier in two blinks of the eye, you guessed it, King left the squared circle with Foreman. Quoting the wire-haired wonder, “Nobody wants to be around a loser.” If Arum was really concerned with Manny the person, not Manny his client, he would have put Pacquiao in with someone that can fight about as good as his stepson Todd du Beof.
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