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.
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!” 
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. 
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. 
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.
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.
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.
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.