Rios-Alvarado on HBO this Saturday at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada

alvarado1 Brandon Rios and Mike Avarado will be going to war on Saturday night in a fight for the interim WBO light welterweight title on HBO at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. The winner of the Rios vs. Alvarado fight will be in line to eventually challenge for the WBO full 140 pound title, which is held at this time by WBO champion Juan Manuel Marquez.

For Rios, it’s important that he defeat Alvarado once again in order to get a big money fight against Manny Pacquiao. Rios was supposed to be fighting Pacquiao already, but the plans were changed when Pacquiao was destroyed by Marquez in a 6th round knockout last December. Pacquiao now could end up facing Marquez, the winner of the Alvarado-Rios fight or Tim Bradley in September.

read more

Rios-Alvarado negotiations moving slowly

By Kevin Chittenden: Negotiations between WBA lightweight champion Brandon Rios and Mike Alvarado are reportedly moving slowly for their March 30th rematch that Top Rank promoter Bob Arum wants. According to RingTV, the two haven’t agreed on the money split for the fight and that’s causing the negotiations to slow. Rios says he’d like to face one of the following fighters instead: Lucas Matthysse, Danny Garcia, Tim Bradley or Amir Khan.

read more

Rios vs. Alvarado: Brandon takes a ton of punishment in winning; Pacquiao could be next

Rios vs. Alvarado: Brandon takes a ton of punishment in winning; Pacquiao could be nextBy Reni M. Valenzuela: How can you not fall for boxing as a Sweet Science after having just watched the classic Rios-Alvarado yesterday?

The fight was truly classic in the sense that it lasted only seven rounds but there was more than enough action the fans needed to see to be awed and spellbound. Much unlike the hide-and-seek Halloween baccarat in the main card, Brandon Rios and Mike Alvarado pursued each other for a non-stop head-on collision in the ring, and with so much heart and boxing skill on display coming from both of them.

It was like a novel that keeps you hold your breath until the last paragraph of the last page wherein only you get to know for sure the story line’s ending. “The War” ended uplifting as the people in the open-field Home Depot Center were exuberant and cheered like a dog with two tails, and with wide grin. They simply have fallen for everything that happened within those 19 minutes of the fight.

read more

Brandon Rios vs. Mike Alvarado: One for the ages

Brandon Rios vs. Mike Alvarado: One for the agesBy Joseph Herron: Too often in boxing, heavily publicized events fail to live up to expectation and fall short of the preceding media hype. In this era of safety first fighters and early stoppages, it’s hard to guarantee a sure fire winner.

But when the match-up of Brandon Rios versus Mike Alvarado was initially announced by Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum and company several months ago, most fight fans and media members knew that the pairing would surely strike gold at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California on October 13th.

Both fighters were undefeated going into this bout, and the two warriors desperately wanted to put forth a star making performance on the biggest stage of boxing, HBO.

read more

Rios’ KO of Alvarado – Awesome Display of Ferocity

Rios' KO of Alvarado - Awesome Display of FerocityBy Paul Strauss: It’s almost unfair. Brandon “Bam Bam” Rios not only is heavy handed, he’s also iron jawed. Mike “Mile HIgh” Alvarado hit him bunches of times with shots that would have put lesser fighters in la la land. Yet each time Rios got nailed, he would hardly take a step back, and instead would jump right back in Mike’s face. Alvarado tried to mimic him, and to many, including unofficial score keeper Harold Lederman, Mile High was being successful at the Home Depot Center, Carson, CA.

As the battle unfolded, it looked to be shaded in favor of Alvarado. He boxed well, making good use of his size advantage, his good mobility and his jab. He changed angles of his punches, managing to get around Rios’ tight guard, or split it up the middle. But, Mike’s swollen face told a different story. It revealed the power of Bam Bam’s short shots, which were not showy but devastating. Often times Rios’ unique style causes one to believe he’s back on his heels. His posture just doesn’t seem to be quite right, but the truth is he gets all of his body behind his pulverizing inside work, and he loves it. After a particularly brutal early round, he trekked back to his corner with a big smile on his face, telling trainer Robert Garcia, “I love this @#!%!”

It’s impossible to give a blow by blow description of the fight. It was more like a gang attack. On the one hand it was bam bam by Rios, and on the other it was rat ta tat tat by Alvarado. Both men had automatic weapons. There was no single shot firing by these two combat veterans. These guys were equipped with high caliber, rapid fire arsenals.

read more

Brandon Rios-Mike Alvarado: Excitement Guaranteed

By Peter Wells: While the main event between Toshiaki Nishioka and Nonito Donaire may turn out to be a contender for fight of the year, it still may not be the fight of the night. That’s because in the co-main event, Brandon Rios and Mike Alvarado, two of the most entertaining fighters in boxing square off in what could very well be one of the greatest fights in a long time.

Both fighters are unbeaten, they have a combined record of 63-0-1 – Brandon Rios drew in a 10 rounder 4 years ago. Not only that but Brandon Rios has 22 knockouts from 30 wins while Alvarado has 23 knockouts from 33 wins. Alvarado’s opposition though isn’t a shade on Rios’, but the way he has dispatched those put in front of him shows he is ready for this step up in class. 16 of those knockouts for Alvarado have come in the first 4 rounds. His most impressive victory came in November last year when he came from behind to stop the tough Breidis Prescott in the final round. Alvarado suffered a horrific laceration on the corner of his upper lip, but battled though, wearing his opponent down before a late stoppage.

read more

Nonito Donaire vs. Toshiaki Nishioka & Brandon Rios vs. Mike Alvarado: Weigh-in report

Nonito Donaire vs. Toshiaki Nishioka & Brandon Rios vs. Mike Alvarado: Weigh-in reportBy Joseph Herron: Earlier today from the Marriott Manhattan Beach on the southern California coastline, all four marquee fighters participating in tomorrow night’s HBO Boxing After Dark double header, Donaire vs. Nishioka and Rios vs. Alvarado, stepped on the official California State Athletic Commission scale to gain their respective division eligibility.

If the crowd in attendance anticipated some heated moments throughout the media event, they were ultimately disappointed. All four combatants were professional and courteous to their respective foes during the entire Top Rank special presentation.

The big question going into the official weigh-in was whether or not Brandon Rios was finally going to make the division weight limit to become eligible to compete for the WBO Latino Junior Welterweight title tomorrow night.

Before his previous two bouts, “Bam Bam” twice failed to make the Lightweight division limit of 135 pounds and wasn’t permitted to compete for the WBA lightweight Championship, although ultimately being cleared to fight.

Before the event, trainer Robert Garcia insisted that Brandon would be able to make 140 pounds comfortably.

read more

Brandon “Bam Bam” Rios vs. Mike Alvarado: Expert trainer analysis

YouTube video
By Joseph Herron: In the co-main event of the greatly anticipated doubleheader on October 13th, at the Home Depot Center in Carson, CA, undefeated former WBO Lightweight Champion Brandon “Bam Bam” Rios (30-0-1, 22 KOs) will be competing in the talent enriched Junior Welterweight division for the first time against the dangerous and unbeaten Mike “Mile High” Alvarado (33-0, 23 KOs) from Denver, Colorado.

“The Pugilist KOrner’s” expert boxing strategist, James Gogue, believes the ten round special event has the makings of a potential “Fight of the Year” candidate.

“This is a fight fan’s dream match-up that has become a stark reality this Saturday,” claims the 29 year experienced trainer. “I know a lot of praise always goes to the promoter and matchmaker whenever a beautifully brutal style match-up like this one is made, but the true credit goes to the fighters who are willing to enter the ring and face the toughest opponents in their respective weight class.”

“These are two undefeated fighters who have a history of imposing their will onto every opponent they’ve faced up to this point; two fighters who don’t like to take a back step to their adversary. Who will eventually get their way in the ring on October 13th? This is a real 50/50 fight in which I can’t really picture either man conceding to defeat.”

read more

Rios vs. Alvarardo winner could face Pacquiao in April, says Arum

By Rob Smith: Top Rank promoter really loves the idea of putting the winner of this Saturday’s clash between Brandon Rios and Mike Alvarado in with Manny Pacquiao next April. Arum happens to promote all three fighters so it’s an easy thing for him to make this fight.

In an interview with the Manila Standard, Arum said Pacquiao and the winner of the Rios-Alvarado fight “Could be unbelievable. The public would go crazy for that fight. Imagine Manny against either of these animals. Manny will have to become an animal himself.”

read more