By Dan Ambrose: Newly crowned WBO light welterweight Latino champion Brandon Rios (31-1-1, 23 KO’s) stopped Mike Alvarado (33-1, 23 KO’s) tonight in then 7th round in a highly competitive fight on HBO. After the fight, Rios spoke with Max Kellerman of HBO and said that he thinks he can KO Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez in the same way that he did with the 32-year-old Alvarado.

Rios said “You see what happened to Mike Alvarado? I think I could do the same thing to them [Pacquiao and Marquez], too. Mike Alvarado’s tougher, and Pacquiao’s an in and out guy, but you know what? Like I always do, Julio Cesar Chavez Sr. taught me very well. Break the body down and the head will fall down.”

It’s interesting that Rios chose that time of all times to pump up Chavez Sr. rather than his actual trainer Robert Garcia. It seems like it would have been better to say good stuff about Garcia given that he was the one that helped Rios get ready to beat Alvarado, and not Chavez Sr.

I think Rios is magnifying his victory over Alvarado a little too much, because Alvarado is the same fighter that was on his way to losing to Breidis Prescott last year in November until pulling off a victory in the 10th and final round to win it. If not for that, Alvarado would have lost that fight, and he took a pounding in that bout. In Alvarado’s bout before the Rios fight, Alvarado struggled badly in beating Mauricio Herrera but was able to beat him on size and power in a 10 round war last April.

So, Alvarado is a good fighter, but Rios is making more out of his win than what he should be doing. There’s better fighters in the light welterweight division, and Rios should try and prove himself against the likes of Danny Garcia, Lucas Matthysse, Lamont Peterson and Amir Khan before he starts talking about how he can beat Marquez and Pacquiao.

Rios obviously wants to get a big payday fight against Marquez and Pacquiao, so he’s doing a lot of talking now. He’s well aware that his promoter Bob Arum is interested in making that fight with Pacquiao next after Pacquiao’s fight with Marquez on December 8th. Rios is obviously trying to get the boxing public interested in one of those fights already. I wouldn’t be surprised if Arum whispered in Rios’ ear before or after the fight and gave him advice about mentioning Pacquiao and Marquez when interviewed.