Arum wants Mike Alvarado back in the fall in Denver

By Boxing News - 05/23/2013 - Comments

alvarado33By Dan Ambrose: Top Rank promoter Bob Arum is looking to have interim WBO light welterweight champion Mike Alvarado (34-1, 23 KO’s) return to the ring in the fall in his home city of Denver, Colorado, according to Steve Kim.

Arum doesn’t have an opponent picked out for the soon to be 33-year-old Alvarado, but it doesn’t take a genius to figure that it’ll likely be Ruslan Provodnikov if Arum can convince him to drop down from the welterweight division to take that fight.

It’s a risky fight for Provodnikov, who recently lost a close and controversial 12 round unanimous decision to Tim Bradley last March. Provodnikov gave Bradley all he could handle in knocking him down and hurting him several times in the fight.

Alvarado beat Brandon Rios last March by a 12 round unanimous decision by the scores 115-113, 115-113 and 114-113 to capture the interim WBO light welterweight title. The full WBO 140 lb. title is currently held by Juan Manuel Marquez, but he’s fighting Tim Bradley on October 12th in Las Vegas, Nevada, and he’s probably not going to bother defending his WBO 140 lb. title against Alvarado because the money just isn’t there.

Alvarado will likely be given the WBO title outside of the ring if Marquez chooses not to fight him.

HBO will want Alvarado to face someone like Provodnikov if they’re going to televise his fight. I can’t see HBO saying yes to a lesser opponent. There are a lot of little known contenders that the WBO has ranked at 140, and if Arum sticks one of those guys in with Alvarado, it’s going to put HBO in a bad position where they might have to turn down the fight. What we don’t want to see is ESPN2 type of fight with Alvarado facing a nobody on HBO, and boxing fans tuning out due a lack of interest.



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