by David P. Greisman - Given his style within the ring, it’s no surprise that Mike Alvarado has been hit with a lot of punches. Given his lifestyle outside of the ring, it’s no surprise that Alvarado hit rock bottom on Saturday night.
The previous two battles between Alvarado and Brandon Rios had been wars. Two of the three judges had a tie on their scorecards when Rios took over to win their first fight by seventh-round technical knockout in October 2012. They had an immediate rematch five and a half months later, and this time Alvarado used more movement to buy himself occasional respites from Rios, mixing boxing and brawling well enough to leave with a close decision victory.
Neither had done well since then. Alvarado went on to lose his junior welterweight world title in his first defense, an October 2013 homecoming in front of a faithful Colorado crowd that watched Ruslan Provodnikov pressure Alvarado, knock him down twice and break him down until he remained in his corner after the 10th round. He went on to lose a lopsided decision to Juan Manuel Marquez last May.
Rios did little of note in losing wide to Manny Pacquiao in November 2013, then tested positive for a banned substance afterward. He returned last August against the rugged Diego Chaves. Their match quickly deteriorated into a foul-filled fight, and Rios was slightly behind on two of three scorecards when Chaves was disqualified in the ninth round.
Still — despite their recent history apart from each other and because of their history when in together — boxing fans hoped that Alvarado-Rios 3 would be a rubber match like the third fight between junior featherweights Israel Vazquez and Rafael Marquez, another close and entertaining slugfest between ring rivals and the consensus best fight of that year.
