By Dan Ambrose: It looks like former WBA lightweight champion Brandon Rios still hasn’t come to terms with his 12 round unanimous decision loss to Mike Alvarado (34-1, 23 KO’s) last month in Las Vegas, Nevada. Rios thinks he should have won the fight, and he feels that Alvarado was just running from him in the last three rounds in beating him by the scores of 115-113, 115-113 and 114-113.
Rios said in his chat session at ESPN “He [Alvarado] didn’t do anything. He ran the last three rounds. He didn’t connect. I was the one doing the more damage; the more chasing; the more hitting. That’s why I thought I won those last three rounds. I was cutting the ring off…The last round, he ran the whole round. What can we do about that?”
It’s sad when a fighter can’t come to terms with a loss because it just looks wretched when they can’t admit what the entire world saw in this fight on March 30th. Alvarado wasn’t just running in the last three rounds. If Rios would open up his eyes he’d see that Alvarado was coming at him at times in each of these rounds and lighting him up with powerful combinations.
Alvarado got the better of Rios in each of those rounds with his powerful combos and all Rios could do was take them and follow without throwing punches. Rios looked punch drunk in the last three rounds because he wasn’t getting his shots and was just plodding after Alvarado.
I think Rios needs to realize that Alvarado adapted for their second fight and he shouldn’t be surprised that Alvarado didn’t make the same mistakes that he did in their first fight by just standing in front of him for three minutes of every round. Alvarado was smart by choosing to box and pick his spots to slug.
Rios says he wants to fight Alvarado for a third time, but that he’s going to have to wait until his promoter Bob Arum feels it’s the right time for him to face Alvarado again.
I think it’s a mistake for Rios to face Alvarado again because he’ll lose and end up looking just like he did in his gift decision over Richard Abril and his loss to Alvarado. Rios needs to move if he’s smart and look for fighters that don’t move around the ring because Alvarado has his number now.
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