Alvarado needs win over Rios tonight to lock himself in for a third fight

By Boxing News - 03/30/2013 - Comments

alvarado665By Eric Thomas: If former WBA World lightweight champion Brandon Rios (31-0-1, 23 KO’s) defeats Mike Alvarado (33-1, 23 KO’s) tonight in their second fight in Las Vegas, Nevada, Rios will move on to bigger and better things. Alvarado’s prospects are dimmer.

If he wins, he likely gets to face Rios again without moving forward to the bigger fights. Rios’ promoter Bob Arum was asked if he would put Alvarado in with the top guys if he beats Rios, and instead of saying yes, Arum could only say let’s wait and see.

That tells you that Arum won’t move Alvarado forward if he wins. Instead, he’ll let Rios, the guy that is being heavily pushed by Top Rank, fight Alvarado a third time so that he can redeem himself and then be put into the bigger fights that Arum wants for him.

Alvarado definitely has the potential to win this fight. When he was fighting well against Rios last October, he was giving Rios all he could handle and was hitting him with shots that would knock out most opponents. Rios showed little in the way of defensive skills in that fight, and he seemed to invite Alvarado to punch him in the head.

It worked out for Rios in that fight, but he can’t make a habit of doing this against Alvarado tonight if he doesn’t want to risk getting hurt. Alvarado was nailing Rios with uppercuts that scary to look at because of how cleanly they were landing.

To be sure, Alvarado mixed it up a little too much with Rios last time, and he says he’s learned his lesson from that fight. Alvarado is going to need to show that he has learned something from that fight by picking his spots instead of falling into Rios’ game.

I think there are guys that can beat Rios by slugging with him, fighters like Lucas Matthysse and Danny Garcia, but those guys have solid chins, and a better offensive arsenal than Alvarado. They’re also able to box, and stay disciplined. Alvarado hasn’t shown the determination and intelligence to fight in this manner during his career, and it’s going to be a real test if he can suddenly change his stripes tonight.



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