Famed trainer Robert Garcia knows Brandon Rios (31-1-1, 23 KOs) will have a hard time against Manny Pacquiao (54-5-2, 38 KOs), but he is confident that "Bam Bam" is ready to face the former pound-for-pound king on Nov. 23 in Macau.
In an interview with Lem Satterfield of RingTV, Garcia said that Pacquiao is not as dangerous as he was five years ago, but he pointed out that the Filipino boxing icon will be "scary" in his next bout following his two consecutive defeats.
"I don't see the same Pacquiao of five years ago. I know that a lot of people will agree with me, but we still need to prepare for that scary Pacquiao," Garcia said.
Once considered as the best boxer in the world, Pacquiao has been in a slump recently. He lost his World Boxing Organization welterweight title in a controversial split decision loss to Timothy Bradley in June 2012, followed by a devastating sixth-round knockout loss to rival Juan Manuel Marquez in December.
Although he sees a lot of holes in Pacquiao's form in his last two bouts, Garcia said that there is no room for complacency as he vowed to prepare for Pacquiao, who is expected to go all out to prove his doubters wrong.
"Manny Pacquiao's done so much in boxing that we've got to admire and be aware of of all of that. So we're training for the Pacquiao that has done everything. The Pacquiao that is so fast, and so powerful, and who has knocked everybody out. We're preparing for the Pacquiao that's scary," Garcia said.
As for their preparation for the biggest fight of Rios' career, Garcia said that the 27-year-old American, who is coming off a unanimous decision loss to Mike Alvarado last March, has been very impressive in training camp.
"Brandon's been knocking our sparring partners out. He's doing a good job, looking so strong and so fast, and we've still got six weeks before the fight," Garcia said. "Brandon's going to be faster. That's one thing that we're working on is his speed, and he's going to be faster."
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