By Manuel Perez: Light welterweight prospect Mike Alvarado (23-0, 16 KOs) had an easy time defeating Manuel Garnica (24-10, 12 KOs), stopping him in the 4th round of a scheduled 10-round bout on Friday night at the National Western Complex Arena, in Denver, Colorado. Alvarado, 28, a raw prospect with a lot of power, took out his outclassed opponent with a big left hand in the 4th round, sending him to the canvas. Garnica, 33, attempted to get up but fell back down and the fight was subsequently stopped by referee Curtis Thrasher at 2:17 of the round. Alvarado essentially toyed with Garnica for most of the fight, hitting him with big uppercuts and fighting very relaxed and confident.
Garnica was cut on the forehead in the first round after a clash of heads. However, with the rate that he was getting hit by from Alvarado it seemed almost dead certain that the cut wouldn’t be a factor in the fight. The fight was so one-sided, though, it was hard to see how Alvarado, who probably should consider taking on better competition, could be getting much from this fight other than working on target practice. Alvarado looked good at beating the daylights out of Garnica; as good as a fighter can be when beating up on a near defenseless opponent like this. Garnica did little in the first round, only throwing a few half-hearted shots while taking a great deal of punishment from Alvarado.
In the 2nd round, Alvarado began throwing a lot of uppercuts and catching Garnica cleanly. Garnica didn’t have the hand speed or power to stand and trade with Alvarado, so and the few times that he did throw shots in the round, Alvarado would immediately fire back with hooks and uppercuts to the head of Garnica. Things looks pretty bleak for Garnica no matter how you looked at it. In the 3rd round, Alvarado began toying with him, using exaggerated foot movement as he stalked Garnica around the ring.
Garnica didn’t help himself by throwing such wide punches, which made his slow hand speed even more of a problem for him than it would have been otherwise. In the 4th round, Alvarado now badly looking for a knock out, began throwing wild shots, some of them missing, but most landing. He then began teeing off on Garnica with big uppercuts, hitting him over and over again with them.
He then caught Garnica with a right hand and then a big left uppercut that snapped his head, stunning him and causing him to back up a couple of steps towards the ropes. Alvarado then followed with a big left hand that sent Garnica pitching forward towards the canvas. While he was on his way down, Alvarado attempted to hit him with a parting right hand shot but missed. After Garnica hit the canvas, he lay there for several moments while the referee began counting. He then got to his knees and attempted to stand but fell backwards into the ropes. At that point the referee waived off the fight.