Alvarado evens up the score, beats Rios via decision

Their first fight was bloody and brutal, with Brandon Rios coming out on top via seventh round stoppage. This time it was Mike Alvarado who got his hand raised in victory, amassing a unanimous decision to win the interim WBO light welterweight title, Saturday (Sunday, PHL time) at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas. Alvarado started the fight carefully as he knew Rios could hurt him at any given time. Disaster almost struck Alvarado in the second as he got caught with a stiff jab from Rios. The two proceeded to duke it out in the ring with Alvarado getting the better of most exchanges. However, the threat of Rios finally connecting with a barrage that would end the fight was always there. In the end the judges submitted scores of 115-113, 115-113, and 114-113 for Alvarado. This resulted in the first loss of Rios in his professional boxing career. With the win, Alvarado raised his record to 34-1-0, 23 KO. Rios on the other hand dropped to 31-1-1 with 23 KOs. After the fight, Rios interrupted Alvarado’s interview to challenge him to complete a trilogy but Alvarado answered that it’s all up to Top Rank Promotions boss Bob Arum to decide if they’d fight again. According to CompuBox, Alvarado landed 261 of his 860 punches while Rios connected on 241 of the 823 he threw. In their first fight last November, two of the judges had it tied while the other judge had Rios winning by two rounds when he suddenly poured it on to score a seventh round technical knockout. In this fight, Alvarado used his superior technical boxing skill to pile up the rounds over the overly aggressive Rios. Now it’s up Robert Garcia and his student to formulate adjustments in preparation for the inevitable third Rios-Alvarado fight. - Carlo L. Pamintuan / AMD, GMA News