By Jake Donovan
With several notable rising stars gracing our television screens this weekend, the real fight for Mike Alvarado won't be how well he fares in the ring, but how many headlines he's able to grab afterward.
It's no slight to junior welterweight trialhorse Manuel Garnica, the chosen opponent for Alvarado's homecoming in Denver, Colorado this weekend (Friday, Telefutura, 8PM ET/PT). But on a weekend where:
- Shobox presents a doubleheader completely loaded with undefeated fighters;
- Yuriorkis Gamboa and Alfred Angulo play HBO the following evening;
- and super bantamweight titlist Juan Manuel Lopez headlines a pay-per-view card
…"just" winning will take a very distant second to making a major statement.
Alvarado (22-0, 15KO) shouldn’t have much to worry about in that regard. Rare is the occasion when he fails to leave an impression following a prize fight. Despite boasting little in the way of a notable or even lengthy amateur career, the former standout high school wrestler has managed to make a lot of noise the old fashioned way – by earning it, as opposed to merely treading water while riding the waves created by any supporting hype machine.
His in-ring efforts have made him a staple on the Telefutura circuit, appearing on Solo Boxeo for the ninth time. His main event with Garnica marks the 11th straight time Alvarado will have the pleasure of gracing a television screen, having also worked in two PPV preliminary bouts along the way.
Most notable of the lot was his appearance on the Antonio Margarito-Miguel Cotto undercard earlier this summer. About two hours or so before Margarito plead his case as the world’s best welterweight, Alvarado sought to convince the world that he represents the future of the 140 lb. division.
In fairness, the bout was little more than a glorified showcase, taking out badly faded former lightweight champion Cesar Bazan inside of four rounds. Not much could be extracted from the bout, other than that Alvarado did what he was expected to do against a name fighter on the decline.
Merely meeting expectations won’t be enough tonight. Not when he’s on the cusp of junior welterweight contention. And for damn sure not when he’s fighting mere minutes from his Thornton (Colorado) hometown.
On the surface, Garnica is a lateral move from where Alvarado’s already been. Call it strategic matchmaking on Top Rank’s part. While awaiting fights that will advance their fighter up the alphabet rankings, the best move is to send him home, where opposition expectations won’t be as high as experiencing their favorite son, preferably against a fighter that will make him look spectacular.
Alvarado has been afforded such opposition in his past two fights – the aforementioned Bazan bout, which followed arguably his best career performance to date. That came two months prior, when he dominated Michel Rosales in a Telefutura main event. The bout was intended to be a lot tougher than Alvarado made it look, which of course only underlines his potential.
That same new penny shine didn’t appear quite as bright in his first fight of 2008, a struggling decision win over Jesus “Chuy” Rodriguez. The intention was to test Alvarado’s willingness to engage and push himself when his opponent would refuse to wilt. The experiment produced mixed results; Alvarado got the win, with room to spare, but hardly looked like a world beater by night’s end.
As tough as it is to match your kid in anything short of a one-sided punch-a-thon, it was a necessary step considering how his 2007 campaign ended. Three straight wins in the Chicagoland area were followed up by a trip to Albuquerque, where Alvarado was tabbed to open a Top Rank PPV.
Hours before Julio Cesar Chavez Jr took center stage in front of a rabid crowd filled with Mexicans and Mexican-Americans, Alvarado saw his highest profile fight to that point end before it ever began. Michael Clark was brought in to provide Alvarado with a name on his resume and somewhat of a challenge. All he offered was the former; the fight ended almost as soon as it began, with Clark tapping out from the first punch thrown, claiming to have injured his wrist.
It went in the books as a knockout win, but left everyone – including Alvarado – feeling cheated.
One way or another, fans shouldn’t feel cheated by the end of tonight’s fight. Garnica almost always brings it, win or lose. That’s he’s been doing a lot more of the latter is a big reason why he was selected as Alvarado’s stay-busy opponent, but it’s his fighting heart that lets Top Rank rest easy on the thought of a potential stinker breaking out in their kid’s backyard.
That’s not to say that Garnica is purely opponent for hire, willingly showing up for a beatdown and a paycheck. Carlos Maussa learned the lesson the hard way two years ago in his adopted backyard of Miami after the Mexican brawler blew through his town to pull off the considerable upset.
He nearly turned the same trick two months later; in fact, most who saw his bout with Juan Lazcano believed he won every way but officially. Even the crowd on hand in El Paso, Lazcano’s home away from home, vehemently booed the official verdict, a split decision that was all over the place but ultimately in favor of the wrong guy that evening.
The sympathy netted Garnica another notable televised appearance, only this time, he was brought crashing to reality by then-undefeated junior welterweight prospect Tim Bradley. He since went 2-2 in the ring, both wins coming in his native Mexico and both losses occurring overseas. In fact, only two of his 24 career wins (12 by KO, against 9 losses) have come outside of Mexico.
Only three of Alvarado’s 22 wins to date have come in Colorado, building up his record elsewhere for the majority of his young career. He gets to add to the hometown tally tonight.
A win keeps him on pace for title contention sometime next year; making an emphatic statement gives fans enough reason to keep his name in conversation beyond the weekend, regardless of how the rest of the field fares.
Please feel free to submit any comments or questions to Jake at JakeNDaBox@gmail.com.
