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Pacquiao turns to Rios for exciting comeback fight

Inexplicably turned down by the two men who beat him in his last two fights despite making them attractive financial offers, Filipino boxing hero Manny Pacquiao has turned to all-out action fighter Brandon “Bam Bam” Rios for his much-awaited return to the ring at the plush Cotai Arena at the sprawling Venetian Resort Hotel in Macau on November 24.

Pacquiao had longed to avenge his shocking 6th round knockout at the hands of Juan Manuel Marquez at the MGM Grand Garden Arena last December 8, and offered the Mexican a purse of $13 million. Timothy Bradley, who had earlier won a hugely controversial split decision over Pacquiao was offered a substantial $6 million purse for a rematch. Alas, Marquez and Bradley decided instead to face off against each other in a showdown that would net them much less money.

Marquez, whose nose was broken and his face bloodied, connected with one thunderous right hand with one second remaining in Round 6 to send Pacquiao crashing to the canvas, face down. He claims there is no need to fight Manny a fifth time and wants to hang on to the glory of his knockout win although there have been muted questions about Marquez’ suddenly acquired punching power by quite a few boxing aficionados.

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Marquez was dropped four times in his first two fights against Pacquiao and hardly hurt Pacquiao let alone drop him in their first three fights, prompting former boxing manager Hermie Rivera to question Marquez’ sudden power surge after Angel “Memo” Heredia handled the Mexican’s strength and conditioning.

Heredia was known for his past dealings in performance enhancing drugs although he claims he’s now clean.

Marquez said he agreed to the Bradley fight because “he is a champion.”

Bradley’s likeable manager Cameron Dunkin told Yahoo! Philippines at the time the Bradley fight was being negotiated, that he wanted the Pacquiao fight because his fighter, the WBO welterweight champion, would make more money than if he fought anybody else, including Marquez. But Dunkin couldn’t get his way although he told us he was grateful to Pacquiao for giving Timothy Bradley his biggest payday ($5 million) and added “it’s an honor to fight Pacquiao.”

Unknown to many is the fact that the Top Rank offer to Bradley, initially, was $3 million but Pacquiao himself asked that it be increased to $5 million, which is what Bradley earned for that fight.

The back-and-forth negotiations between Pacquiao’s adviser Michael Koncz, Dunkin and Top Rank president Todd duBeof was stalled over the offer of a $3 million purse for Rios which Dunkin felt was too low, with duBeof telling Dunkin he would handle it, which he apparently did.

While no details were announced on whether the purse offer for Rios (31-1-1, 23 KO’s) had been increased, it probably was. All Koncz would say is that Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero received a $3 million purse to fight Floyd Mayweather Jr last week so “let’s leave it at that” hinting that Rios got a little more.

Koncz realizes the importance and implications of the Rios fight, indicating that “the whole world will be watching” and that Pacquiao’s career “hinges on the outcome of this fight.”

He said: “We need to motivate ourselves and show the whole world that Manny is still a champion and he must prepare properly” and although no belt is at stake in the Rios fight for Pacquiao he is acknowledged as “the people’s champion” and Koncz is looking at a command performance ending in a knockout in the middle rounds.

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But that, he concedes, isn’t going to be easy. Rios’ 2012 “Trainer of the Year” Robert Garcia told us “Brandon never takes anybody lightly and always trains hard but we are going to train harder than ever because we are fighting one of the best of all-time. This time we are going to give it an extra push, not only Brandon but myself so the fans will see an exciting fight and walk out happy.”

The agreement on the Pacquiao-Rios fight was relayed to us by Pacquiao’s adviser Michael Koncz early Tuesday morning, Manila Time. He told us, “The deal is done. It will be Rios”, the fighter Koncz himself preferred over the other contender, Mike “Mile High” Alvarado.

Koncz felt that Alvarado was bigger and a technically better boxer than Rios and although he was confident Pacquiao would beat Alvarado, he felt Rios would give Pacquiao an opportunity to make an impressive comeback which he would need to rebuild his reputation as an elite fighter who could possibly, down the road, get a long-delayed fight that the world has long wanted to witness, against undefeated Floyd Mayweather Jr.

A short while after Koncz, Dunkin confirmed, “It’s a done deal. My guy is ready to go. Rios will fight anybody, anywhere. ”

Rios himself had long announced his desire to face Pacquiao even before the eight division world champion lost to Bradley and now that he’s been given the chance, is expected to go flat out in training and is likely to spend at least two weeks before the fight, training in Macau.

Dunkin told us Rios wants to be there in Macau early and will, as always, "come straight forward and fight no matter how hard it is no matter what the outcome.”

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The manager revealed that he had never been close to Manny before the Bradley fight but recalled that “as I was watching it and in the first two rounds I told Rios Manny hits so hard and he’s so fast and he replied ‘oh well.”

He said “He (Rios) has always wanted him because Manny is the kind of fighter who will stand and fight fire with fire. He has balls.”

Rios remarked: “If I win, I win. If I lose I lose.”

Top Rank promoter Bob Arum plans a huge promotional tour in China where the popularity of boxing is growing rapidly with visits to Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai.

After the initial success of his promotion at the Venetian Resort Hotel in a card packed with Filipino fighters and headlined by two time Olympic gold medalist and three-time world champion Zou Shiming in which Brian Viloria lost his WBO/WBA flyweight titles to Mexico’s Juan Francisco Estrada, Top Rank returns to the Venetian on July 27 when undefeated Filipino contender Milan Melindo battles Estrada in a mandatory title shot in a card that will also see promising Genesis Servania and the undefeated Penalosa brothers Dodie Boy Jr and Dave in action.

Editor's note: The blogger's views do not represent Yahoo! Southeast Asia's position on the topic or issue being discussed in this post.