Former lightweight champion Brandon Rios of Oxnard is a hard puncher, and has no problem getting into vicious fights. That doesn’t mean he’s going to just throw caution to the wind when he tangles with Manny Pacquiao on Nov. 23 in Macao, China (on HBO pay-per-view) just to see how Pacquiao reacts to having been knocked cold by Juan Manuel Marquez last December in Las Vegas. A lot of fighters would be gun-shy after being knocked out the way Pacquiao was – as in face-first.

“We can’t go in the ring and think he’s going to be like that from the last knockout,” Rios said Tuesday during a conference call from Oxnard, where he lives and trains. “:We don’t know how he is personally. We have to go in there and wait and wait and wait and see what he has because he is still a dangerous opponent. … I can’t go in there and jump on him to see if he’s done with.”

Rios, 27, is 31-1-1 with 23 knockouts. Pacquiao, 34, is 54-5-2 with 38 knockouts.