Mike Alvarado Ready To 'Dig Deep' To Claim Trilogy

By Jake Donovan

If Mike Alvarado proves to be as resilient in the ring as he is outside the ropes, then his current run of fistic troubles should quickly come to pass.

The 34-year old from Colorado enjoys his second homecoming fight within the past 15 months, this one in the form of a rubber match with longtime friendly rival Brandon Rios. The two collide for the third time this weekend at the 1stBank Center in Broomfield, Colo., airing live on HBO (9:45 p.m. Eastern Time/7:45 p.m. Mountain (local) Time).

All he has to do is make it to the ring on Saturday. It may not sound like much to ask, but given his checkered past, hearing the sound of the opening bell will undoubtedly serve as music to his ears.

“I’ve been used to something always going wrong in training camp. I’ve been dealing with adversity my whole life. It’s no distraction in my camp,” Alvarado (34-3, 22KOs) says of his latest run-ins with the law. The former 140 lb. titlist was arrested as recent as three weeks ago on possession of a handgun, discovered when his car was pulled over by police due to expired tags.

Alvarado also had outstanding warrants for previous incidents and failure to appear in court. The latest incident briefly landed him in a holding cell, before being freed on $41,500 bond.

“I didn’t miss any time in training,” Alvarado noted in efforts to insist the incident has been put behind him, at least until after fight night. “I went to jail for one day. I made up for that day on that Sunday.”

Come Saturday, he’s going to have to make up a lot of ground lost in his professional career, with all three of his pro losses coming within his past four fights.

Alvarado enters the Rios trilogy with two straight defeats, including his lone ring appearance of 2014 – a 12-round loss to Juan Manuel Marquez last May in a bout that saw both fighters hit the canvas.

Rios is faring only marginally better, having lost two of his last three but entering Saturday’s showdown on the heels of an awkward disqualification win over Diego Chaves last August. The win helped put behind him a 2013 campaign that saw the brash former lightweight titlist suffer the lone two defeats of his career, beginning with a decision loss to Alvarado in their March ’13 rematch. 

It was a much needed night of redemption for Alvarado, who admits to getting caught up in the moment during his brutal slugfest with Rios in their first fight five months prior. The two were fighting on even terms before Alvarado fell behind and was eventually stopped in the 7th round of their Fight of the Year-worthy Oct. ‘12 war.

In the rematch, Alvarado still dug in and mixed it up, but only when necessary. He spent the rest of the night boxing, which proved to be the difference as Rios failed to properly adjust. The night marks his last ring win, though a feat that he believes also provides the blueprint for how to come up with a hometown victory on Saturday.

“I’ll just stick to my game plan that I’ve already developed,” Alvarado insists on what it will take to take two out of three from Rios. “Making those adjustments earlier and not giving in like I did the first fight. The second fight was all about the adjustments I made. Now that I know the adjustments I made to adapt to a certain style, I know I can do it again.”

A win on Saturday will mark Alvarado’s first in his home state since a 10-round decision over Gabriel Martinez in July ’11. His first fight back since then came in Oct. ’13, though ending in disaster as he suffered a 10th round stoppage at the lethal hands of relentless Ruslan Provodnikov.

Absent from that promotion were the police blurbs and negative reports of his running with the wrong crowd that seem to trail this card.

For previous fights, Alvarado set up camp in Los Angeles, but he decided to keep it close to home for this fight. Part of the reason had to do with what he wasn’t willing to leave behind.

“There’s distractions everywhere. Even if there was stuff going on out here I would hear about it in LA and would still stress over it,” Alvarado claims. “I just love it at home. I don’t like staying away from my home. I feel more comfortable being in my hometown. I like being around my family, and around my kids. I just feel more comfortable fighting at home.”

His three daughters will be front and center at ringside for what rates as a make-or-break fight in his career, with his oldest daughter walking him into the ring.

“My three daughters, they’re my #1 fans,” Alvarado proudly boasts.

Also among his fan base is the fellow who will be standing opposite corner on fight night. While not exactly drinking buddies (although it stands to reason they would be if they spent enough time together), both fighters admit that more than a mutual respect exists between them, enough that neither is thrilled with the thoughts of handing down the type of loss that can ruin the other’s career.

Still, they have a job to do. Once the opening bell rings, fandom and friendship will cease to exist.

“We have nothing against each other. We know what we’re getting into once we get into the ring,” Alvarado admits. “We know the warrior that’s going to come out of us on that night.

“That’s on us to dig deep inside of us to find out what we’re made of, figure out what to overcome in this trilogy. I know we need this win. We’re going to fight our hearts out. That’s just the type of fighters we are.”

Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene.com, as well as a member of Transnational Boxing Ratings Board and the Boxing Writers Association of America. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox