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Timothy Bradley hopes to return to the 147 Pound elites as he defends his WBO welterweight title against an equally determined Brandon Rios on November 7th at the Thomas & Mack Center is Las Vegas, Nevada.
Returning To The Top
Both men are known to be two of the fiercest welterweights in the game. Both have been in tough wars and have figures in Fight of The Year winners. Both of them too are two of the few to have faced Manny Pacquiao in a PPV bout. But with their careers derailed by Pacman, each look to return to the top of the heap with a win over the other on Saturday night.
Worst Nightmare
Timothy Bradley’s biggest triumph turned out to be his worst nightmare. After beating Manny Pacquiao in 2011, Bradley’s career spiraled downwards instead of shooting up to the stars because of the controversial nature of the victory. But he’s picked up the pieces with big wins over Ruslan Provodnikov and Juan Manuel Marquez. Just last June, Bradley reclaimed the WBO welterweight championship with a 12-round UD win over Jessie Vargas.
No Power in Punches
On the other hand, Rios is coming off a third round KO win over rival Mike Alvarado in their grudge match last January. Since losing to Pacquiao via shutout in 2013, Rios has won two in a row and is looking to extend that to three against Bradley whom he considers easy to beat because of the lack of punching power. But Rios may be wrong because while Bradley doesn’t have the power of Pacquiao or Alvarado, he has a work rate better than both.
Who Takes This?
Contrary to Rios’ claims, Bradley is a -500 favorite over the +333 Rios. Bradley’s recent move to Teddy Atlas’ camp has been seen as a big positive in the career of Desert Storm. While he admittedly doesn’t have the power in his punches, Bradley’s speed and volume are a killer. Rios may have the bigger punch, but his come-forward style of fighting may be tailor made for a volume puncher like Bradley who can score at will against a steady target. Rios doesn’t have elite defense and prefers to fight fire with fire. That may be disastrous against a well-conditioned athlete like Bradley who can go all-out for 12 rounds. Experts are predicting a punching clinic from Bradley and that he will come out victorious after 12 rounds by a wide UD.
