Rios doesn't even beat the Tszyu of the Hatton fight. Hatton had the foot speed to close the distance on old Tszyu. Rios does not. Not to mention, Rios isn't nearly as physically strong as Hatton.
Yeah. It'd basically be an exact replay of Hatton-Castillo. Ricky would have bulled Rios around for a few rounds, then stopped him to the body.
Gotta go with Tszyu. Faster, stronger, more powerful, much more skilled. Rios chin allows him to hang around for a bit but he would get stopped eventually. I still think Rios beats that fag Khan, however.
Hatton would beat Rios pretty easily, he's better in just about every way. Tszyu loses to a non weight drained Rios, he's just too much of a greasy faced, heartless pussy.
Rios wasn't weight drained when he was being bounced around by Acosta early on. You're acting like Rios wins this fight on heart alone, but that thats not enough to beat Tszyu. Rios lacks the TOOLS that Philips and Hatton had. The reason Hatton beat Tszyu (aside from the fact that Tszyu was old and rusty, which was the BIGGEST factor) was because Hatton had the FOOT SPEED to close the distance on Tszyu, was able to maintain a hellacious pace for 11 rounds, and perhaps most importantly..... had the freakish physical strength to bull Tszyu back. Rios isn't NEARLY as fast as Hatton, not of hand nor foot. Rios doesn't fight at as explosive a pace as Hatton. AND Rios is nowhere near as physical strong as Hatton. I'd also argue that Hatton had a better chin than Rios as well, the pre-Floyd version anyway. Also, while Hatton was HARDLY a defensive wiz, in his prime he was far LESS hittable than Rios. Now, moving onto Philips. Vince beat Tszyu because Vince was a HUGE junior welter, who was rangy enough and had the long arms to catch Tszyu all night with that right hand, and he imposed his size on Tszyu down the stretch. Philips was just an overall more talented, more skilled fighter than Rios. Rios lacks Cool Vince's size, and doesn't have as powerful a right hand as Philips. Rios with his midget arms, his slow feet, his HORRIBLE defense, and with his solid, but not great chin would get murder by Tszyu. The fight would play out with Rios trying to come forward, but he runs into Tszyu's left uppercuts and right hands which badly hurt him, and force him back. Tszyu would then walk him down, and massacre him. Does Rios have more heart than Tszyu? Yeah, he probably does. But Hell, Gatti and Ward had more heart than Tszyu as well. Would they beat him also? Rios' edge in heart is no match for the HUUGGGEEEE gap in talent, and skill here. Circa 98-00 Tszyu brutalizes Rios within 6. The only guys in the history of 140 with the talent to pressure a prime Tszyu and win would be Chavez and Pryor. And Rios my friend, is NO Chavez or Pryor.
I'm nausing you, I would probably take Tszyu over a non weight drained Rios too :: It is hard to judge a weight drained fighter though. I mean Rios looking fucking AWFUL yesterday, yesterday's Rios would have been beaten up by Gamboa and Maidana, two fighters who I previously said I was confident Rios would beat. Unlike a fighter who is highly skilled with excellent defense, a lot of Rios's tools and attributes are taken away when weight drained. Against Murray and Abril, he really did look like the scrub many people think he is. We'll have to see what he's like at 140, if he proves to be less resilient there, or can be easily matched in strength and power, he'll be a pretty scrubby 140 pounder too.
Muthafucka! I want the 5 mins of my life back that it took me to type that out!:laughing: Rios is still a good fighter. And if he's at his best at 140, I could see him hunting down Conman. But Tszyu is just too tall an order for him. The gap in speed, power, skill, strength, and overall talent between Tszyu and Rios is just too overwhelming for Bam Bam to win. Tszyu would counter the living shit outta him, and even if Rios' slow ass got inside, Tszyu was too strong and would push him back.
I like Mex, but his hatred of Zu is absurd. Zu is one of my favorite fighters eventhough his resume leaves a lot to be desired. I just loved his style. He really was a guy who trained to be a fighter, he wasn't born one. Zu was not really talented. He just mastered boxing. That said, Rios is exciting, but he would be better served looking for caskets than trying to make weight if he had fought Zu. Zu by death. I really hope you guys stop thinking of Rios as some sort of championship fighter. HE is a slightly better mEXICAN KRAPSHITUS.
I'm not evening buying the weight drained excuse. Garcia even claimed that weren't evening trying to make the weight. They were trying to pull off what Castillo did against Chico in the rematch basically. Rios is a combination of the worst parts of Vargas and Panchito Mojado. He's a dumb ass cholo who's learned to box a bit and needs a size advantage to have any success.
I highly disagree with Tszyu not being talented. He's one of the most talented junior welters in history. Had one punch power in his right hand, and combined it with very good handspeed, and good defensive reflexes. Power, handspeed, and reflexes are all talents. They can't be taught.
Tszyu would perform vivisection on Rios. Rios is made to order for him. A guy with suspect defense whose strength is his strength against an accurate bomber who is actually stronger than him?? forget about it, Tszyu smashes him
Forget Tszyu, and Hatton, I think Rios gets stopped by a prime Zab. I know, its NEVER safe to bet on Zab. But I can't help but think that Bam Bam's slow, defenseless ass would walk into a big Judah bomb that lays him out.
Judah Im not so sure about. He never beat anyone as good as Rios. If Zab doesnt take him out early, he'd be in for a bad night.
::::"Prime" Judah is like the "mythical" Marquez. He is an ATG in mythical matchups. As scruby as Rios is, lettuce not forget the king of scrubs Carlos Baldomir beat Judah doing his best to personify a turtle on thorazine. Judah could lose to literally anyone. Rios pressure could break jUDAH'S WILL.
And who the hell has Rios beaten thats anywhere NEAR as good as Zab? He got buzzed by Acosta's counters. Zab countered with 5x the power and speed of Acosta, and from a southpaw stance. I mean, imagine Rios walking into the uppercut that Zab buzzed Tszyu with. And he WOULD walk into that punch. And Ike, Baldomir IS a scrub. But he's a scrub who happens to be a huge welterweight, who if NOTHING ELSE does have one thing...... a brick for a chin! Rios is a lightweight moving up who has a solid chin, but who CAN be hurt. Big difference. Zab could have very well stretched Rios. Meaning, the Zab who fought at junior welter in the in the late 90's, early 00's. I'd pick Rios over the current Zab. Although, even NOW, Judah would have a chance.
CERTAINLY a better matchup for Zab than Khan was. Rios obviously has nowhere near Khan's speed and range. Even at this stage, the gap in speed between Zab and Rios is huge.
The thing with Zab is that I could see him hurting Rios badly and then letting him off the hook. And once he does that, Rios will keep the pressure on and hit Zab with some shots that discourage him and make him shut down, and less eager to let his hands go. I could see Rios with his limited skill set dragging Zab into deep waters and drowning him.
I think it would be pretty entertaining. You have to figure Rios wears him down, but Zab did look pretty sharp against Paris... shitty opponent or not.