Tonight at 9:00 p.m. ET from Macau, China, Filipino boxing hero Manny Pacquiao (54-5-2, 38 KO) will step in the ring with Brandon Rios (31-1-1, 23 KO) for a fight critical to both men's careers. The pay-per-view begins at 9:00 p.m. and can be live streamed by clicking this link.
Pacquiao is already a legend in the sport, once considered a legitimate claimant to the pound-for-pound throne. He spent years laying waste to men big and small, before suffering controversial loss to Timothy Bradley that began his current descent. Most feel Pacquiao easily beat Bradley, but the judges saw differently.
Pacquiao eschewed a rematch with Bradley in favor of a fourth bout with his archrival Juan Manuel Marquez. In that fight Pacquiao seemed to be winning on the cards before getting brutally knocked unconscious by a Marquez counter shot.
Now after two losses Pacquiao's claims to the pound-for-pound title are essentially gone; he hopes a vicious KO of Rios tonight will put his name back in the pool.
Rios is coming off his first loss of his career, in a rematch with Mike Alvarado. The first bout between Rios and Alvarado was a bloodbath, and the second slugfest lived up to the fight created by the first. He is considered a perfect opponent for Pacquiao to return to form against because he tends to charge in headfirst and engage in brawls.
He does not see himself as a stepping stone however. On HBO's Face Off Rios told Pacman that he was entering the squared circle with intent to send him on his way to retirement.
The stakes were raised this past week when the two teams' trainers engaged in a scuffle at the Macau gym both camps are sharing. In the fight Pacquiao's trainer Freddie Roach was kicked in the chest by Rios' strength coach Alex Ariza, the former strength coach of Pacquiao. During the encounter Roach was also caught on tape launching racial insults at Rios' trainer Robert Garcia as well as boxing reporter Elie Seckback.
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