The first episode of Manny Pacquiao vs. Brandon Rios 24/7 debuted on HBO on Saturday evening, with the upcoming clash now just two weeks away. Here, you’ll find the full Pacquiao vs. Rios 24/7 episode 1 recap to get a sense of what went down and what the episode showed us from each camp in preparation of the fight.
At the start of Pacquiao-Rios 24 7 we hear a bit about Pacquiao’s legendary career and ascent to greatness, but also, the devastating and shocking KO loss to Juan Manuel Marquez one year ago. Now, he’s facing a furious challenger in Rios, and Rios says he plans to retire Pacquiao in this fight. Pacquiao though plans on restoring his current position in the sport and his legacy.
Macau, China, is the first stop in the lengthy international press tour, and that’s where the fight will be held on November 23. With Macau’s close proximity to the Philippines, Pacquiao expects a lot of his home country fans in attendance. At the presser, Rios jokes that he’s not nervous about the fight, but he is nervous about the big scenes and press coverage of the fight.
Back to Pacquiao’s last fight against Marquez, and we hear how Pacquiao was aiming for the stoppage victory. He and his team were confident in the early going, bu in Round 3, Marquez sent Pacquiao down with a big right hand.
Freddie Roach says a blind guy could have seen that fight coming, but Pacquiao got caught. From there, Pacquiao got back on track and returned the favor, sending Marquez down. Pacquiao comes on strong at the end of the 5th and seemed close to stopping him.
The 6th Round was all Pacquiao… until Marquez lands that pinpoint, perfect right hand, and it levels Pacquiao and leaves him knocked out cold on the canvas. Roach says that’s the scariest thing he’s ever seen in boxing. Pacquiao’s wife Jinkee was bawling and was very afraid.
A few minutes later and Pacquiao is up and returns to his locker room, before heading to the hospital. He’s released that night, and gets back to the Philippines two days later. The loss did nothing to deter his fans and how they felt about him. He received a warm welcome back and tons of fans support.
Jinkee said she asked Pacquiao to retire, but he wasn’t having it. He was cleared to fight again, took some time away from the sport, and now he’s back. Pacquiao says that is all done and over with, and this fight is now. He says that hey, this is sports, you can’t win all of the time, sometimes you lose.
But Pacquiao vs. Rios 24-7 poses the question, at age 34 and without officially having won a fight in two years, is he past his best, and will he be able to regain that form? Roach says that Pacquiao is his best friend and the best person he ever met in boxing, and that he would never let him risk his health by continuing to fight too long. He expects Pacquiao to blast Rios, and when he does, he’ll be back in the picture.
Now finally we hear a little bit from Rios. When he’s on stage at the first press conference, he says, “Fuck, it’s really happening!” as he couldn’t believe he got this opportunity. Then the fighters got to see some action in the ring, with Zou Shiming’s pro debut.
From Macau, the two fighters went to the Great Wall of China, and various other stops, Beijing, Singapore and Shanghai. Rios had a blast everywhere and appreciated the special opportunity he had to visit all of these different places.
Pacquiao and Rios then brought the press tour back to the U.S., stopping in New York City. NYC was a new experience for Rios as well.
We hear more about how Rios is a big jokester outside of the ring, but inside of the ring, he says he’s an animal. He loves it, he loves taking the punishment and dishing back out. Max Kellerman calls him “demented” in that way that he loves fighting. Rios says boxing is like his rehab, it calms him down. It’s even better than sex for him he says, calling boxing like his orgasm.
Rios’ first fight with Mike Alvarado was an absolute war. In the corner in between rounds, he tells trainer Robert Garcia that he loves it. Garcia says, I know you do! Rios had his man hurt in the 6thand then poured on the pressure in the next round until the referee waved it off. A fight and a performance like that for Rios? “Busting a nut” for Rios.
Rios and his team were waiting for a big fight then, and he attended Pacquiao-Marquez IV and was ready to fight either one of them. But Rios didn’t get his chance then, rematching Alvarado. Perhaps Rios didn’t get as mentally into the rematch as a result, and Rios wasn’t able to pull it out.
Despite that setback though, the stars aligned for him in the right way. Now he gets his big chance.
So thanks for checking out our Pacquiao vs. Rios 24/7 episode 1 recap, and be sure to keep on checking back over the coming weeks for even more updates on the fight, and all of the rest of the boxing news coverage you need.
