by Nick Giongco
Brandon Rios sees himself in a similar position where Manny Pacquiao was when the Filipino faced the feared Marco Antonio Barrera ten years ago in San Antonio, Texas.
“Everybody’s giving me no chance (to win),” said Rios during a teleconference call on Tuesday afternoon (Wednesday in the Philippines) from his training camp in Oxnard, California.
Like Pacquiao against Barrera in Nov. 2003, Rios is being seen as a virtual punching bag in their welterweight war scheduled Nov. 24 at The Venetian in Macau.
Defying huge odds, Pacquiao scored a one-sided victory over Barrera, catapulting him into stardom.
But Rios doesn’t see himself as someone who will assume the form of a cannon fodder, boasting that Pacquiao will be in for a big shock when they get it on at the 15,000-capacity CotaiArena.
“Everybody has already marked me off. They’re overlooking me. I just want to show the world and let them know that he’s in there with a live dog, he’s not in there with a little puppy. He’s in there with a live dog who wants to show the world that he’s the best and that he wants to be the best and wants to fight the best.”
That’s not all, Rios said during the phone patch that also included his trainer Robert Garcia and Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum.
“This is the guy that has heart and balls and who gives everything in the ring. I’ve been reading articles and I’ve been hearing all kinds of stuff that people are doubting me. I don’t need to keep saying it, but there is just a lot of stuff out there. There are a lot of the f___g people who know boxing the best, whatever. It doesn’t matter, but everybody’s out there saying it. I just want to go out and shut everybody up and prove them wrong.”
Pacquiao, the 27-year-old Mexican-American puncher said, has never seen anything like him.
“I’m going to be a motherf___ing pit bull mixed with a Great Dane, mixed with a Rottweiler, mixed with a Bull Terrier, mixed with a half-horse,” said Rios. “I’m going to be a mix of everything. Any f___ing thing, that’s the kind of dog that I am going to be.”
Or is Rios more bark than bite?