By Pablo Fletes, notifight.com
Gimnasio Alexis Arguello, Managua, Nicaragua - In a close and controversial ten round split decision, Orlando Rizo avenged a 2010 majority decision loss, with a big win over previously unbeaten rising prospect and national super bantamweight champion René "The Twin" Alvarado. The scores were 96-94 twice for Rizo and 96-94 for Alvarado.
Rizo won the fight, but it was Alvarado who dominated much of the action by being more aggressive and he provided very accurate punching in ring. The first two rounds were fairly even but Alvarado had an advantage because of his aggressiveness. In the third, Alvarado suffered a cut under his right eyebrow, resulting from an unintentional headbutt, but that did not distract him. The next few rounds were favorable to Alvarado, who always came forward with a better display of punches.
Rizo's face, swollen and bruised, took a beating from the harder punches of Alvarado. In the ninth, Alvarado took a break to save his energy for the tenth and final round, where he dominated the action.
Rizo improved his record to 14-2 with 9 KOs, while Alvarado was stripped of his unbeaten record, falling to 14-1 with 9 knockouts.