By NICK GIONGCO
Brandon Rios will be in Macau some two weeks ahead of his Nov. 24 clash with Manny Pacquiao so the Mexican-American puncher can shake off jet lag.
Top Rank, which is staging the show at the 15,000-seat CotaiArena, will dispatch its publicity chief Lee Samuels to join Rios in the 18-hour trans-Pacific journey that will kick off in Los Angeles.
Rios, 27, is in the thick of training in Oxnard, California, tearing up sparring partners and showing everyone how determined and prepared he is to ruin Pacquiao’s party plans.
Although he is the prohibitive underdog, Rios has vowed to prove his detractors wrong by becoming the man to send Pacquiao into retirement.
“It’s my time,” said Rios, exuding the confidence of someone who is certain of being crowned.
Pacquiao is on a mission to redeem himself after suffering an eye-popping sixth-round knockout defeat to Juan Manuel Marquez in December last year.
Despite the devastating defeat to the Mexican counter-puncher, Pacquiao said he just ran into a despretaion punch from a fast-fading Marquez in the dying seconds of the round, prompting the roof to cave in on him.
Over in General Santos City, Pacquiao, who will be three weeks shy of his 35th birthday by fight day, has been giving trainer Freddie Roach all the reasons to look forward to his resurrection next month.
Meanwhile, Pacquiao will hold his media day this Thursday in General Santos City with Top Ran big boss Bob Arum and ace Denver-based publicist Fred Sternburg in tow, while Rios will stage his own open workout on Oct. 31.
As for Pacquiao, he will spend the next four weeks in General Santos City and will only fly to Macau on Nov. 18.
We r going to see a vintage pac-man who doesn’t touch gloves every round or look to the ref. To stop the fight once he has he’s man in trouble we r gonna see a much more violent pacquiao who will have a huge chip on his shoulder determined to make a point that his last loss was nothing more than result of fluke a lucky freak punch. Come Nov. 23 Brandon Rios will b left a bloody embarrassed mess. Which at this point pac-man will verbally challenge mayweather leaving floyd with no choice but to accept the fight or forever b branded a coward