By Dan Ambrose: 35-year-old former WBO light welterweight champion Mike Alvarado (34-4, 23 KOs) says he’s making a comeback in the sport after sitting out of the ring for an entire year following his 3rd round knockout loss to an in shape Brandon Rios last year in January 2015.
Alvarado says he was in a dark place with his life around the time of his fight with Rios, and this took him away from the sport after he was beaten. Alvarado suffered an eye injury in the loss to Rios, and that was partly behind him losing the fight because he couldn’t see out of his right eye after hurting it.
Even if Alvarado is able to stay 100 percent dedicated to his craft, it’s going to be difficult for him to regain what he’s lost.
Alvarado will be turning 36 in July, and he’s lost 4 out of his last 5 fights. It’s unclear whether Alvarado can make weight at 140 any longer, and that weight division gives him his best chance of success. At 147, the Top Rank promoted Alvarado would likely need to fight other Top Rank fighters like Tim Bradley, and he just doesn’t match up with a guy like Bradley.
“I was in a dark world, man. I was in a dark world,” Alvarado said to Fighthype.com. “I wasn’t doing what I was supposed to do. I was living another lifestyle, meshing that in with my boxing world…That fire was blown out; that light was out for a while there, but now it’s lit. It’s a torch now. That fire is motivating me. I’m so dedicated,” Alvarado said.
Alvarado has been beaten twice by Rios, Juan Manuel Marquez, Ruslan Provodnikov in the last three years. Alvarado has taken a lot of punishment in his fights during his career, and it’s really difficult to imagine him being able to take more punishment in other tough fights. He’s not going to be able to change his fighting style because he doesn’t seem to have the stamina needed for him to move around the ring to box his opponents.
“My lifestyle is just all about doing better. I’m a changed man, you know,” Alvarado said. “This comeback is going to be huge for me, it’s going to be really epic, and it’s going to be a story that people are going to want to follow because of where I was, what I got through, and where I am now.”
Top Rank promoter Bob Arum is probably happy to know that Alvarado is making a comeback, because his stable is in need of extra bodies at this point in time with Rios having been retired by Bradley, and Manny Pacquiao about to retire after his next fight in April. Having Alvarado back at least will help the 84-year-old Alvarado as far as having opponents to put in with his fighters. If Alvarado can still make 140, then Arum will be able to match him against Crawford at some point for one of his title defenses of his WBO 140lb title.
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