By Dan Ambrose: With both of the careers of Mike Alvarado (34-3, 23 KOs) and Brandon Rios (32-2-1, 23 KOs) heading for skid row with each additional loss, their promoters at Top Rank are planning on putting them together for a third fight between them.
The date that they’re looking at is December 20th, according to Dan Rafael of ESPN. Alvarado has lost his last two fights against Juan Manuel Marquez and Ruslan Provodnikov. Rios has lost 2 out of his last 3 fights, but you can make an argument that he would have lost his last fight against Diego Chaves if not for referee Vic Drakulich disqualifying Chaves in the 9th round for an unseen elbow.
Chaves was ahead in the fight despite being penalized twice for questionable fouls. Even with Rios getting points in this manner, he was still on his way to losing the fight when it was halted in the 9th by Drakulich.
HBO has money and a free date for the Rios vs. Alvarado 3 fight due to Saul “Canelo” Alvarez pulling out of the previously scheduled December 6th date in which he was going to fight Joshua Clottey. Canelo had to pull out of the fight date due to an injured ankle, although many boxing fans believe Canelo pulled out of the fight because of the tremendous backlash from fans about his choice of 37-year-old Clottey instead of him fighting a relevant contender at 154.
“When Canelo said he couldn’t go on Dec. 6 that freed up a considerable amount of money which, like most corporations, if they don’t spend it this year it goes back to the company and they get a new budget next year,” Top Rank promoter Bob Arum said to Dan Rafael of ESPN.com. “So we are seeing if they can use some of those funds set aside for the Canelo fight for Rios-Alvarado on Dec. 20 and add a show to the schedule for the consumers”
Enough casual boxing fans will want to see Rios and Alvarado fight each other for it to be worthwhile for HBO to pump money into the fight, but it’s pretty clear that neither of these guys are going anywhere at welterweight. Rios was already soundly beaten by Manny Pacquiao last year in November, and there’s nowhere for Rios to go right now where he would have a chance at winning a world title. WBA/WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr wouldn’t waste his time fighting Rios, not after the way he looked in his last three fights. IBF champion Kell Brook’s promoter Eddie Hearn would likely be interested but not now with Brook coming off of a stabbing injury. Besides that, Rios would likely lose badly to Brook if that fight were to happen. The same goes for Alvarado.
The best thing Rios and Alvarado can do, besides fighting each other 4 or 5 times, is to move down to light welterweight and try and make something happen in that weight class. Alvarado was already exposed by Ruslan Provodnikov though, and Rios can’t seem to make the weight.
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