It’s time for the third fight in the trilogy. It’s Mike Alvarado vs Brandon Rios 3.
Rios and Alvarado fought in late 2012 in a barnburner that Rios won by stoppage. They immediately went back to the same fight and Alvarado won in a decision by fighting a smarter fight. Since then, Rios lost in a lackluster performance against Manny Pacquiao and beat Diego Gabriel Chaves by disqualification in an ugly fight. Alvarado lost to Ruslan Provodnikov and Juan Manuel Marquez.
So, we’re back to where we started.
It’s time for part three.
Round 1
Rios had an amazing round. This might be the best I’ve ever seen of him. He was landing punches from all angles, blasting with straight rights and uppercuts. He was moving well. Alvarado just took shot after shot and is already bleeding from somewhere on his face.
Round 2
Alvardo switched to southpaw early in the first and did again here. But it didn’t work. Rios continued manhandling him and wobbled him with what looked like a jab. Alvarado had to actually run to make sure his legs were working right. Alvarado threw a punch right to the plums and the fight was stalled. Best punch of the fight for Rios.
Round 3
Rios is punishing him. He has no answer for Rios, which is odd since this is fight number three and he really should know everything about him. Rios looks like a real boxer here rather than just a slugger. He put Alvarado down to a knee with a brutal uppercut. Alvarado got a second wind and stood toe to toe with him late in the round.
WATCH the uppercut by @Brandon_Rios1 that clouded Alvarado's vision & ultimately ended the bout – http://t.co/qD9ddM7AHb #AlvaradoRios
— HBOboxing (@HBOboxing) January 25, 2015
They stopped it. Alvarado said he couldn’t see and the doctor stopped it.
Winner: Brandon Rios by way of 3rd round TKO
Lampley asked him if fighting in his hometown was a mistake and Alvarado said he got what was coming to him. He said he didn’t train hard and wasn’t properly prepared for the fight. He had some issues earlier this month after being arrested. He said he’s not done.