American fighter Brandon Rios has that “take it to the next level thing” said boxing pundit Max Kellerman on HBO’s 24/7.
“If you hit me, I’m gonna hit you back harder – and twice. He’s kind of demented in that way,” Kellerman explained.
The 27-year old will need to be demented to beat Manny Pacquiao this weekend in Macau for the vacant WBO welterweight title.
Brandon Rios isn’t much to look at – certainly not a boxer.
Despite a bit of scar tissue around his eyes, his pale Latin face bears few marks common to the long-time professional and his stomach and sides tend to pinch over the waist of his trunks when he fights.
He looks like he should be sitting in the press seats punching a keyboard outside the ring rather than slugging it out under the lights inside it.
He’s nothing compared to Manny Pacquiao, whose skin seems simply too tight for his ultra-athletic figure, who has the legs of a cyclist and hands of granite.
Manny Pacquiao – whose brow protrudes over his eyes from a decade of punishment and whose speech is starting to falter ever so slightly; he’s on a fast track to slurring like his long-time trainer, business partner and good friend Freddie Roach.
Physical contrasts aside, that “next level thing” Rios taps into during a fight – that thing which sees him able to take more punishment than anyone else in boxing – is what sets him apart from Pacquiao.
In his autobiography, Mike Tyson described the next level as a zen-like, out of body experience. It would visibly consume Tyson during a fight, you could see it in his eyes throughout the ‘80s, but it was gone after he got out of jail.
Rios displays it differently.
Both Pacquiao and Rios smile in the ring, but PacMan’s grin is one of disarming detachment. It’s a ruse. A façade.
Pacquiao’s distant smirk is the Filipino fighter’s rendering of the more common boxer’s scowl – its intent is to intimidate, saying “you do not worry me. I am at peace. I am Manny Pacquiao.”
On the other hand, Rios’ wild-eyed sneer is that of a madman.
Rios and Mike Alvarado – another wild one – went punch for punch in the opening rounds of their punishing battle in California in 2012 and very soon they both had welts around their eyes and blood.
After every skirmish, Alvarado maintained his game-face, while Rios loosened up his shoulders and laughed, preparing for another assault.
“Rios just eats it, and just keeps coming forward,” said commentator and boxing legend, Roy Jones Jr.
“This is what you call an old school dog-fight. Tuck your chin in, get your hands up and keep on moving.”
Midway through the bout, Rios advanced but was caught flush with a three punch combination that stopped him dead and swivelled his head back and forth.
For a split second the fight looked over, as his knees buckled, his gloves dropped and his head snapped back into place.
But when he regained his balance and raised his guard, there was a broad – evil – smile across his face.
It wasn’t posturing, either. It was the next level.
He finished the round swinging and strutted back to the corner.
“Me Gusta – I love it,” he said to his seconds, all hyped up like a man in the grip of a PCP binge.
The drug analogy isn’t far off the mark, according to Rios.
“Boxing’s like my rehab, when I’m very hyper, I go to the gym, it calms me down and relaxes me.
“Honestly, I love boxing that much – for me it’s better than sex… It’s like my orgasm.”
Whatever it takes to be the best, I suppose.
Some fighters are artists in the ring – Floyd Mayweather, Sugar Ray Leonard, Sugar Ray Robinson. That type of fighter is few and far between, because the confluence of skill, talent, commitment and luck is rarer than winning the lottery.
Rios isn’t in this category.
His place is alongside the brawlers and fighters. The rough and tumble men who know little more than life in the ring – Joe Frazier, Roberto Duran, Micky Ward and Arturo Gatti.
These kinds of fighters are rare for another reason – because you need to be able to go to that ‘next level’ to take that kind of punishment.
And that’s about as hard as winning lotto, too.
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