Dagenham-born Mitchell faces Mexican Daniel Estrada for the vacant WBC Silver lightweight and a guaranteed shot at Jorge Linares’ recently acquired WBC strap.
It promises to be a raucous occasion with a card stacked with local interest. Not least of all John Ryder’s defence of his recently acquired WBO Inter-Continental middleweight title against late replacement Billi Godoy.
Here we will take a look at what’s in store as we kick of a huge 2015 for British boxing.
On Thursday night, DiBella Entertainment (DBE) hosted an action-packed Broadway Boxing card in front of a raucous sold-out crowd at NYC’s famed B.B. King Blues Club & Grill, sponsored by Manfredi Auto Group and Everlast, headlined by the always-exciting world-ranked super bantamweight contender Rafael Vazquez, who put on an impressive display of punching power.
In the evening’s main event, Vazquez, 122, scored an impressive TKO after four rounds over San Antonio’s Joseph Rios. Following a tame first frame, Vazquez twice dropped Rios in round two with left hooks. In the third, Vazquez was hurting Rios, 120¼, with every punch, particularly his straight rights. A jab-straight right combination to the ear brought a downtrodden Rios to his knees at the end of the fourth round. Rios did not continue on into the fifth. Vazquez improved to 13-1 (11 KOs), while Rios saw his record fall to 13-12-2 (4 KOs).
World Boxing Association (WBA) Super, World Boxing Organization (WBO) and The Ring Magazine super bantamweight champion Guillermo “The Jackal” Rigondeaux (15-0, 10 KOs) is encouraged by reports that World Boxing Council (WBC) title-holder Leo Santa Cruz’ promoter, Oscar de la Hoya, believes a Rigondeaux-Santa Cruz unification fight has to happen.
The 34-year-old Rigondeaux, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, has been restricted to Asia for his last two fights, subsequently in low-profile matches, due to the lack of desire by any world-class super bantamweight to challenge the Cuban star.
Thankfully, ‘temporarily’ is the operative term here and a year, which started in disappointment, has turned full circle with a series of announcements and upcoming events that have the fans purring and the vehicle moving forward once more.
Brandon Rios (33-2-1, 24 KOs) came into last night’s fight against Mike Alvarado (34-4, 23 KOs) with his career essentially on the brink of collapse after losses to Manny Pacquiao, Alvarado and question wins over Richard Abril and Diego Chaves. But with his 3rd round stoppage win over a near-frozen Alvarado, Rios’ career has been rejuvenated, at least temporarily.
Rios’ promoter Bob Arum is so excited about his win last night that he’s talking about the 28-year-old Rios getting nothing but big fights from here on out.
A capacity crowd gathered inside the 1stBank Center just outside Denver, Colorado to watch the rubber match between “Mile High” Mike Alvarado and Brandon “Bam Bam” Rios. Oxnard, California’s Rios entered the ring first; drawing boos from the pro-Alvarado crowd. The hometown fighter followed, making his way to the ring among chants of “3-0-3” (Denver’s area code) from the fans. The atmosphere was electric and the stage was set for an epic finale to one of boxing’s finest trilogies in recent years.
The opening round started with Rios stalking and Alvarado looking to stay defensive. Rios controlled the action and buzzed his opponent late in the round, dominating over the final 30 seconds. In the 2nd round Alvarado was already bleeding from the nose and taking a ton of punishment. He tried to buy a minute by nailing Rios with a low blow halfway through the round, but the writing was on the wall.
The definition of “bam” is (a word) used to imitate the sound of a hard blow. No need for special sound effects tonight in the ring at 1st Bank Center, Broomfield, CO. The stuff heard was no died in the wool imitation. It was the real article! Genuine, double-rectified bust head! (John Wayne, True Grit). Mike “Mile High” Alvarado looked like a bobble head doll. He let Rios get in close, and Bam Bam went to work. He literally hit him with every punch in the book, and Mike’s face took on a bruised and battered look before the end of the first round.
Alvarado’s corner scolded him for not moving and punching more. Everyone knew that’s why Mike was victorious in the second fight of this trilogy. However, even in that fight, it took him approximately half of the rounds before the light bulb came on. Once he started lateral movement, it opened up punching opportunities, and he was able to out throw and out land Rios. There was a lot less bam bam in the second half of that fight.
In what was supposed to be an exciting trilogy fight on HBO on Saturday night turned out to be a real stinker with #4 WBO welterweight contender Brandon Rios (33-2-1, 24 KOs) annihilating what appeared to be a poorly prepared Mike Alvarado (34-3, 23 KOs) in three rounds in front of his own fans at the 1st Bank Center, Broomfield, Colorado.
Alvarado decided he’d had enough after three rounds so he quit on his stool after the third, saying he couldn’t see out of his right eye. The crowd booed loudly at the stoppage, and continued to boo the 34-year-old Alvarado when he was being interviewed after the fight.
The rule of three is a principle utilised generally by writers and suggests that things that come in threes are inherently funnier, more satisfying, or more effective than other numbers of things.
The assertion being that the reader or audience of this form of text is more likely to consume information if it is written in groups of threes. We humans tend to agree as the rule of three has been applied across our lives in theatre, film and of course boxing in the form of the fabled and beloved trilogy.
A great trilogy see’s the perfect marriage of styles, personalities and backgrounds create an unbreakable bond between fighters that will define their careers and transcend the ages.
http://youtu.be/CLqLJmvH9rc
Photos by Tiffany Lam / ESB & Ed Mulholland/HBO: Everything went smoothly at today’s weigh in. There were no issues making weight, no trash talk, no shoving matches, it was all positive as the fighters hit the scales this afternoon in Denver, Colorado. The undercard fighters weighed in first, building up anticipation for when “Mile High” Mike Alvarado (34-3, 23KO) and Brandon “Bam Bam” Rios (32-2-1, 22KO) hit the stage.