Beating Brandon Rios

[Mars_ax]

Brandon Rios brings some real advantages to the ring with him. I think his three biggest are his fighting spirit, his physical strength and his size. He seems to be one of the gifted weight cutters in the sport and often has a significant size advantage on fight night.

I went back and watched the Peterson and Acosta fights looking for ways to overcome those advantages (assuming of course one isn't physically stronger) and here's what I've come up with. (in no order)

1. One must jab Rios HARD. A flicking or rangefinding jab just doesn't discourage him at all. The jab must be thought about as a straight left rather than a jab. This punch can stop the Rios forward, forward, forward mindset that makes him feel like a runaway train. Rios doesn't do nearly as well on the retreat.

2. One must not continually retreat as a tactic-Barney Ross once said he'd retreat no more than two steps before he'd make a stand. Why? Because he thought it gave the foe too much confidence if one was continually retreating. One has to step to the side and counter Rios or worse case stand and trade occasionally. One must slow the Rios momentum. One other way of doing this is to get close, grab and then walk Rios backwards.

3. Go to the body-This takes serious nerve because body punching requires being in range. The idea here is just to keep Rios honest, not to knock him out this way. Hard jab, step inside, go to the body and then clinch.

4. The left hook- Rios doesn't seem to see this punch very well. A hook off the jab could be effective against him.

Where am I wrong, what did I miss and does Antillon actually have the toolbox to do any of this?

I don't know Marble, Rios is tough as nails and very hard to discourage, my thoughts are it's going to take someone that has the power to badly hurt or knock Rios out, because if you don't, he's going to just keep on coming. Antillon is a tough cookie, with a lot of KO's, so this will great scrap Saturday.

[marbleheadmaui]

Brandon Rios brings some real advantages to the ring with him. I think his three biggest are his fighting spirit, his physical strength and his size. He seems to be one of the gifted weight cutters in the sport and often has a significant size advantage on fight night.

I went back and watched the Peterson and Acosta fights looking for ways to overcome those advantages (assuming of course one isn't physically stronger) and here's what I've come up with. (in no order)

1. One must jab Rios HARD. A flicking or rangefinding jab just doesn't discourage him at all. The jab must be thought about as a straight left rather than a jab. This punch can stop the Rios forward, forward, forward mindset that makes him feel like a runaway train. Rios doesn't do nearly as well on the retreat.

2. One must not continually retreat as a tactic-Barney Ross once said he'd retreat no more than two steps before he'd make a stand. Why? Because he thought it gave the foe too much confidence if one was continually retreating. One has to step to the side and counter Rios or worse case stand and trade occasionally. One must slow the Rios momentum. One other way of doing this is to get close, grab and then walk Rios backwards.

3. Go to the body-This takes serious nerve because body punching requires being in range. The idea here is just to keep Rios honest, not to knock him out this way. Hard jab, step inside, go to the body and then clinch.

4. The left hook- Rios doesn't seem to see this punch very well. A hook off the jab could be effective against him.

Where am I wrong, what did I miss and does Antillon actually have the toolbox to do any of this?

I don't know Marble, Rios is tough as nails and very hard to discourage, my thoughts are it's going to take someone that has the power to badly hurt or knock Rios out, because if you don't, he's going to just keep on coming. Antillon is a tough cookie, with a lot of KO's, so this will great scrap Saturday.

You could very well be correct on the bold. But I can't figure out who is around at 135 who has that toolbox. I don't think Linares hits hard enough or is physical enough. John Molina kind of sounds like that, but is he ready? The guys who moved up, JMM, The Ghost I just can't see.