Quote Originally Posted by marbleheadmaui View Post
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?
There's probably more to it than that, but I don't think any of us could come up with anything near decent without spending two weeks watching tapes of him. I really don't feel that there is anyone at 135 who can beat him right now & I include JMM in that as much as I love him. I don't think Antillon has anything that could give Rios pause for though & I think he'll be lucky to see 8.

Rios is an absolute beast, he just won't be stopped, I have to say I love watching him fight even though I'm normally a fan of technical types. He really just seems like he wants it more than the other guy. I absolutely loved how he reacted to the low blows from Peterson, didn't look to the ref, just gave some of his own back.

The styles that should have troubled him (a fast, slick, technically astute boxer in Peterson & slippery power puncher in Acosta) have been unable to stop him. Antillon's only hope in my eyes is that Rios is struggling badly making weight.