Pacquiao vs. Alvarado possible for October in Macao

By Boxing News - 04/16/2013 - Comments

alvarado665By Chris Williams: Top Rank stable fighter interim WBO light welterweight champion Mike Alvarado (34-1, 23 KO’s) is being mentioned as a strong candidate for Manny Pacquiao’s next fight in October in Macao, China. Alvarado, 33, has reportedly agreed to the fight, but Pacquiao’s adviser Michael Koncz is saying that there isn’t an opponent that they’ve decided on as of yet, according to Steve Kim.

Alvarado would seem like an odd choice for Pacquiao because there wouldn’t be much of a payoff for the Filipino to fight Alvarado because the guy doesn’t have a large fan base. It would be an incredibly risky fight for someone coming off a bad knockout loss like Pacquiao has because Alvarado can really punch and he’d be testing Pacquiao’s chin from round one until the bitter end.

I just can’t see Bob Arum of Top Rank pulling the trigger on that fight because it’s a no-win fight for Pacquiao. He wouldn’t likely make a ton of money on pay per view fighting Alvarado, and if he beat him few boxing fans would care because Alvarado isn’t a popular fighter and has already been stopped by Brandon Rios.

It would be a really dangerous fight for Pacquiao because Alvarado isn’t someone that Pacquiao could take out in four or five rounds, and he’s not a slow as molasses Antonio Margarito, an old Shane Mosley or Miguel Cotto. Alvarado would be there to give Pacquiao a lot of punishment and I’d be surprised if he were able to take the kinds of head shots that Alvarado would be nailing him with.

I rate Alvarado as a better puncher as Juan Manuel Marquez. Alvarado can consistently punch with a lot of power with each shot and he throws, and I think that would be too much for Pacquiao to handle.

Alvarado brings an added element to his game in that he can box and move around the ring quite well, as he showed in his recent 12 round decision win over Brandon Rios. If Alvarado were to do that against Pacquiao then I could see Pacquiao really struggling.



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