By Jim Dower: Undefeated light welterweight contender Mike Alvarado (32-0, 23 KO’s) will be battling it out with contender Mauricio Herrera (18-1, 7 KO’s) on April 14th in a scheduled 10 round bout at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, in Las Vegas, Nevada. This is one of the better fights that you’ll see because Herrera, 31, has a lot of skills and Alvarado is a huge puncher with an unbeaten record.

Alvarado, #3 WBO, #9 IBF, #11 WBA, did well to come on late in his fight against Breidis Prescott last November to get a 10th round stoppage in a fight he was well on his way to losing. That’s not because Alvarado can’t fight but rather Prescott’s jab was out of this world and he was punching with a lot of power and fighting Alvarado to a stand still until Prescott gassed out in the later part of the fight and started getting hit with Alvarado’s big uppercuts.

Alvarado has the power advantage in this fight but Herrera is a really smooth fighter with decent power and the ability to box circles around his opponents. Herrera, #7 IBF, looked great in beating a good fighter in Ruslan Provodnikov by a 12 round decision in January last year in a fight for the vacant IBF North American light welterweight title. Herrera matched Provodnikov shot for shot and did a great job of jabbing him and avoiding his big power shots.

In Herrera’s other big fights, he defeated Efren Hinajosa by a 6th round stoppage in April 2010. However, Herrera was beaten by Mike Anchondo by an eight round split decision in December 2009 in a really close fight that easily could have perhaps should have gone Herrera’s way. His other fights have been mostly against 2nd tier opposition.

Herera has a really good chance of winning this fight as long as he doesn’t get in close to Alvarado like Prescott was doing and letting him land his uppercuts. Those are Alvarado’s favorite shots and Herera has to avoid them at all costs.