By Dan Ambrose: While many boxing fans see the January 24th rubber match between Brandon Rios and Mike Alvarado as little more than a simple slugfest between two sloppy fighters going nowhere with what’s left of their careers, HBO thinks enough of the fight to put together a “Road to Alvarado-Rios 3” preview episode that they plan on televising next month on January 10th at midnight ET/PT.

This is an effort to get boxing fans excited about seeing the two sluggers face each other on 1/24 in Broomfield, Colorado.

It’s a fight that is destined to see a knockout one way or another. Both guys have lost a couple recent fights, and both have looked terrible. It’s hard to say which is worse off, because both of them have looked so bad.

Rios was whipped badly by Manny Pacquiao and outpointed by Alvarado in their fight last year. Besides that, Rios looked horrible in his last fight against Diego Chaves in which the referee gave Rios a 9th round disqualification in a fight in which Rios would have lost if not for the stoppage.

The winner of the Rios-Alvarado 3 fight will keep alive his career because he’ll obviously be used by Top Rank as opponent for one of their name guys like Tim Bradley for instance.

The loser will have to rebuild his career, and it’s unlikely they’ll find themselves used for any significant fights. These guys can only be used so many times as an opponent before the boxing public eventually tires of seeing them if all they’re doing is getting beaten.

Alvarado was stopped by Rios in the 7th round in their first fight in 2012. The two fighters met in a rematch five months later in early 2013, and Alvarado paid Rios back by out-boxing him in a 12 round decision. Alvarado’s career has since gone downhill with him losing back to back fights against Ruslan Provodnikov and Juan Manuel Marquez.

Rios was rewarded for his loss to Alvarado by getting a fight against Pacquiao last year in November. Rios lost that fight by a one-sided 12 round decision. Rios would have lost his next fight against Diego Chaves if not for the referee disqualifying him.