Rios vs. Alvarado: There Will Be Blood

Rios vs. Alvarado: There Will Be BloodBy John G. Thompson: This coming Saturday night Brandon “Bam Bam” Rios (30-0-1, 22 KO’s) will face Mike “Mile High” Alvarado (33-0, 23 KO’s) in the ring at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California televised on HBO Boxing After Dark. While the outcome of this fight is as hard to predict as Rios’ conditioning, one thing is certain – when these two aggressive power punchers meet there will be blood.

Rios of nearby Oxnard, California (born in Lubbock, Texas) is just twenty-six years old, but has already battled weight issues in his last two fights, losing his WBA World Lightweight title on the scales in July of last year. Rios was an experienced and decorated amateur with about 275 bouts and was the 2004 United States Amateur Featherweight Champion and a 2004 Olympic alternate for the USA.

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Nishioka vs Donaire, Rios vs Alvarado: Prepare For Warefare

Nishioka vs Donaire, Rios vs Alvarado: Prepare For WarefareBy Mark Klimaszewski – On October 13th, The Home Depot. Centre in Carson, California will see a superb double-header of boxing entertainment. Featuring the 122lb clash between Japanese “Speed-king” Toshiaki Nishioka and “Filipino Flash” Nonito Donaire; and it’s saliva inducing co-feature, the 140lb battle between undefeated “Mile High” Mike Alvarado against (also undefeated) former Lightweight World Champion Brandon “Bam Bam” Rios.

This is the kind of billing for fans to get excited about! In Nishioka v Donaire you have what will be a superbly technical, fast-paced chess match that will gather momentum and develop into a full blown war. Nishioka looked brilliant in his outpointing of Mexican hall-of-famer Rafael Marquez in November of last year; his speed and accuracy looked daunting for any potential opponent whilst he really seemed comfortable in there. Toshiaki appears to be at his physical peak right now and is a mouth-watering style match up for his slick, hard-hitting and maybe equally as fast opponent Donaire.

The Flash has struggled to find some career-defining fights outside of his huge upset stoppage victory over the then ultra-formidable knock out artist, Vic Darchinyan, and his shocking 2nd round demolition of then-unified 118lb champ Fernando Montiel. Nonito’s left hook was the deciding factor in both those fights and will be a dangerous prospect for the speedy Japanese southpaw. However, Donaire hasn’t looked overly impressive since his big win over Montiel and if Nishioka can avoid that left he will surely possess the speed to beat him to the punch through the mid to late rounds. Of course, that’s a big “if”.

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Brandon Rios to face Mike Alvarado on October 13th in Carson, California

Brandon Rios to face Mike Alvarado on October 13th in Carson, CaliforniaBy Marcus Richardson: On October 13th, former WBA World lightweight champion Brandon Rios (30-0-1, 22 KO’s) will be facing unbeaten light welterweight contender Mike Alvarado (33-0, 23 KO’s) at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California, according to the 26-year-old Rios. The Alvarado-Rios fight will be taking place on the same card as Nonito Donaire against possibly Toshiaki Nishioka.

Rios commented on his twitter yesterday “Spoke to my manager and it’s official. I’m fighting Mike Alvarado 10/13 at HDC in Carson, CA. Same card as @ Filipoflash. See you there.”

A fight between Alvarado and Rios will be an in house Top Rank promoted fight, as both guys are with Bob Arum’s Top Rank stable. It’s a good fight for Rios, and a risky one for Alvarado, because Rios just won a fight over Cuban Richard Abril by a 12 round split decision last April and he didn’t look like he deserved the win. Top Rank has a lot of hopes for Rios, and they were almost dashed by that performance.

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