Rios vs Barrera is apparently happening next

Id prefer mab and erik face each other in evenly matched fights then the monsters at lw and jww. Erik and mab couldnt pick a light puncher like paulie, but too be honest where they lack in power perhaps with the skills they can pull it off but I dont see a point to it.

 

Marco can do it. He's not what he once was, but I think he very well might have enough left to outbox Rios. He's not gonna try to hit and run all night, he'll slip and counter and bang that body.

 

I think MAB would murderize EM at this point, Erik has lost a lot more than Barrera.

 

Nooooooooooooooooo! :-(


OK, this isn't quite as bad as Maidana-Morales (as Rios isn't quite as scary as Maidana, and Barrera isn't quite as shot as Morales)...but this is not good news.

 

Barrera will beat Rios but lose a controversial decision like Morales did to D.Diaz.

Barrera will train his hardest for this fight and Rios will overlook this fight for the winner of Antillon/Soto II coming up. In fact I expect Rios to not really train at all but just try to make weight. Come weigh-in time Rios will ask for a catchweight of 136lbs and some incentives for Barrera but Barrera will insist that he continue to try to make the weight. 45 minutes later, Rios weakingly makes the 135 limit and tries to hydrate as much as possible.

Fight night:
Rios is going all out recklessly to take Barrera out of there but Mab's ring generalship makes Rios look foolishly costing Rios to lose the first 2 rounds by a small but convincing margin. Rios decides to try to break MaB down instead and tries working Mab's body. Mab's jab is scoring and so is Rios's body shots but it doesnt look like its taking its toll on Mab as the boxing public expected it to and Mab's landed shots look more flashier. This goes on for 4 rounds. Garcia implores Rios to not fight on the outside and to smother Barrera. Rios does this for 3 rounds and begins to frustrate Barrera. Barrera gets deducted a point for shoving Rios off during a break causing Rios to trip over. Rios takes a breather in the 10th due to poor conditioning and gives the round to Mab. Garcia reminds Rios that his title and potential big fights is at stake and he needs to win these last 2 rounds if he wants to walk away with his belt. Rios goes all out in the 11th and 12th desperately looking for a KO or atleast a KD. Rios's aggression is just too much for Mab to win the round and is on his bike through out all of it. Most fans will have Barrera winning 7 rounds and some of his hardcore fans will perhaps see him winning 8. Close but clear decision for MAB. Even with the point deduction.

There will be an outrage at ESB when the scorecards are read as follow.

Judge #1 115-112 Rios
Judge #2 116-111 Rios
Judge #3 114-113 Rios

Arum will be blamed and MAB will just be another Sob story of how close he was to furthering his legacy like Morales to D.Diaz, Holyfield to Valuev, and Hopkins to Pascal.

 

A MAB win could make a rematch with JMM.