Alvarado defeats Rios; Crawford decisions Prescott in boring fight

In a big upset, Mike Alvarado (34-1, 23 KO’s) defeated former WBA lightweight champion Brandon Rios (31-1-1, 23 KO’s) by a 12 round unanimous decision tonight at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, in Las Vegas, Nevada. The final judges’ scores were 115-113, 115-113 and 114-113.

Rios started off well with his heavy pressure and was able to force Alvarado to brawl with him despite the fact that Alvarado was constantly moving in the first three rounds.

In the 2nd round, Rios staggered Alvarado badly with a hard jab. Alvarado’s legs went to jelly briefly, but he was able to hold onto Rios long enough to clear his head. Rios landed several big shots before the round ended, but to his credit Alvarado was able to take them and stay upright. Rios should emptied his arsenal in that round because Alvarado was able to take control of the fight from the 3rd round on and dominate with his movement and hard right hands to the head.

In one of the worst decisions I’ve seen in a while, WBC Silver light heavyweight champion Tony Bellew (19-1-1, 12 KO’s) was given a 12 round draw against challenger Isaac Chilemba (20-1-2, 9 KO’s) tonight in Bellew’s home city of Liverpool, at the Echo Arena in the UK.

Chilemba completely controlled the last 9 rounds of the fight, and deserved a clear win by making the 6’2″ Bellew miss again and again with his shots. At the same time, Bellew got away with an awful of fouling in the fight in terms of holding and hitting, throwing a shot after the bell, a head butt and push that occurred after the 1st round had ended, and a handful of rabbit shots.

It look like the referee was just there to watch the fight instead of controlling it. The final judges scores were 116-112 for Chilema, 116-115 for Bellew, and 114-114 even. I scored the fight 117-111 for Chilemba.

Amir Khan – Divided Opinion

khan11 It can be difficult to talk about Amir Khan (27-3, 19KOs) in neutral terms, especially being of the same ethnic background. As a slightly more serious boxing fan than most, I expected great things from the man hailed in my community as a fantastic role model, “Finally!” Parents exclaimed around the country and indeed, possibly in South-Asian neighbourhoods around the world, “our boys and girls have someone to look up to!”

This was true; those who understand why Joe Louis was so celebrated for beating Max Schmeling and its wider context in that era noticed the uptake of the sport in our community and across the wider populace in general; culminating in a triumphant return for British boxing at the London 2012 Olympics. Khan was the sole representative for the Union Jack in Athens in 2004 and his silver medal, if one can look objectively, created a revitalized interest at amateur level.

Alvarado prepared to box and slug with Rios tonight

Tonight in a battle of Top Rank sluggers on HBO, light welterweight Mike Alvarado (33-1, 23 KO’s) and Brandon Rios (31-0-1, 23 KO’s) will be fighting in a rematch at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. The fight has a lot riding on it for the 26-year-old Rios because his promoter Bob Arum wants to put him in bigger fights next against Manny Pacquiao, Juan Manuel Marquez or Tim Bradley.

There’s less of an upside for the 32-year-old Alvarado because Arum hasn’t been vocal about wanting to put Alvarado in with Pacquiao, Marquez or Bradley if he beats Rios. It’s likely he’ll put Alvarado back in with Rios in a third fight immediately to give his highly hyped Rios a chance to redeem himself so that Arum can move him in against his better known Top Rank stable fighters.

Bellew battles Chilemba tonight at the Echo Arena in Liverpool, UK

WBC Silver light heavyweight champion Tony Bellew (19-1, 12 KO’s) will be looking to keep alive his hopes for a world title shot against WBC 175 lb. champ Chad Dawson by taking on Isaac “Golden Boy” Chilemba (20-1-1, 9 KO’s) in a fight in Bellew’s home city at the Echo Arena in Liverpool, UK. Bellew, #1 WBC, needs the win to keep his ranking to get a possible shot at Dawson’s title either this year or next year depending on how long Dawson strings it out before facing him.

Bellew, 30, hasn’t faced any really quality light heavyweights other than WBO light heavyweight champion Nathan Cleverly, who beat Bellew by a 12 round majority decision two years ago in Liverpool.

Brandon Rios vs. Mike Alvarado II – “The Boys are Back”

rios222 This coming Saturday evening, let us be collectively thankful that we as the boxing faithful can experience a headache to remember. Hopefully, such a careening of the cranium is felt more in the style of Cheech and Chong’s “Corsican Brothers” as we once more pull up to the TV (or some luckily enough in person) to witness either round one or maybe round eight in the memorable war that was Brandon “Bam Bam” Rios versus “Mile High” Mike Alvarado. The two battle hardened warriors met last October for a thundering clash in one of the sport’s gold standards of divisions, the junior welterweight class. They participated in a seven round, back and forth, see-saw type match-up which had just about everything for which dedicated fight fans clamor.

The two pugilists stood toe to toe during many points of the bout and two of the three ringside judges saw the bout even until “Bam Bam” Rios (31(23)-0-1, Oxnard, CA.) proved too much for “Mile High” Mike (33(23)-1, Denver, CO.) to handle, which resulted in a stoppage of the action at the 1:57 mark of the seventh round.

Vera defeats Bondorovas on questionable stoppage

vera11 Middleweight Brian Vera (23-6, 13 KO’s) got a lucky break tonight when the referee Charlie Fitch stopped a fight that Vera was clearly losing to Donatas Bondorovas (17-4-1, 6 KO’s) after the 7th round because of two small cuts that Bondorovas in their fight at the Turning Stone Resort & Casino, Verona, New York, USA.

After an especially strong round by Bondorovas in the 7th, referee Fitch asked Bondorovas if he could see out of his eyes, and he said “not so good.” Bondorovas then angrily got to his feet and told Fitch “I said I CAN see.” It was no use, Fitch had made up his mind and the fight, which was actually good one, was stopped prematurely.

London 2012 Team GB captain Thomas Stalker has played down his remarkable reputation as a box office sensation despite selling over 1,000 tickets for just his second professional fight.

Although he is buried on the undercard of fellow Scouser Tony Bellew’s big fight in Liverpool tomorrow, a huge portion of the 12,000 crowd will be there to watch Stalker compete in a low-key four-round fight against a journeyman.

Matchroom boss Eddie Hearn, who promotes the show, spoke this week of his astonishment at Stalker’s popularity as he starts off on the road to professional glory.

Is Floyd Mayweather Jr. to Blame for the HBO GBP split?

floyd8 Whether it’s Floyd Mayweather Jr. – the guy that everyone loves to hate, just signing a big money deal with the Showtime Network for whom he bolted from HBO for, or other reasons, HBO has now struck back, severing it’s boxing relationship with Golden Boy promotions (GBP) whom Mayweather has collaborated with for his last few fights.

HBO’s claims of Mayweather’s defection having no affect on their boxing program couldn’t be farther from the truth. Truth is they wanted Mayweather and his move was an unexpected shock to HBO who stands to lose millions of dollars and its #1 status from Mayweather PPV’s. So HBO had to do something, cutting their losses they went after the group who reportedly brokered the Mayweather/Showtime deal; Golden Boy Promotions.

Robert Guerrero arrested in New York for attempting to carry a pistol onto a plane

In a potential buzz-kill, WBC interim welterweight champion Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero (31-1-1, 18 KO’s) was arrested earlier today for attempting to board a plane with an unloaded pistol while at New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport.

According to Yahoo Sports, the 29-year-old Guerrero was leaving New York after spending a short period of time promoting his huge blockbuster pay-per-view bout against Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Guerrero was boarding a Delta flight 1429 to Las Vegas at 8:10 a.m. Guerrero attempted to declare the pistol [40 caliber semi-automatic] at the Delta counter, but was arrested. The pistol wasn’t loaded.