By Jhonny Gonzalez
Rigoberto Alvarez (25-2, 19KOs), the 32-year-old brother of Mexican superstar Saul "Canelo" Alvarez, has reached a deal to fight Japan's Nobuhiro Ishida (22-5-2, 7KOs), the current WBA interim-junior middleweight champion, on October 9 in Japan. Eddy Reynoso of Canelo Promotions went to Japan and came to a deal with Ishida's manager, Hideo Kanazawa.
In one of those crazy WBA decisions, Miguel Cotto is going to receive the title of the WBA "super champion" at 154-pounds. The winner of Alvarez-Reynoso will have the vacant WBA "regular" championship at stake.
Alvarez has fought most of his career at weights between 160-168, where he suffered the two defeats on his record, which includes a knockout loss to Marco Antonio Rubio. Ishida has been unbeaten for quite some time. After losing a close decision to Crazy Kim in 2004, he remained unbeaten in twelve fights that followed.
