Welterweight Brandon Rios went to Broomfield, Colo. and earned a third round stoppage over arch-rival Mikey Alvarado last night in what was the third meeting between the two men.
For Rios, the fight not only is his second in three fights with Alvarado, it is his second win in a row since he lost to Alvarado in their second meeting and followed that with a loss to Manny Pacquiao. Also for Rios, the convincing win seems to signal that he has found his fire back. The Pacquiao beating made him look slow, and a subsequent fight back in August against Argentine Diego Gabriel Chaves was not an impressive showing.
As for Alvarado, he is already being considered done after losing three fights in a row and four of his last five. For Alvarado, fighting at home in Colorado has turned into a real nightmare. In October, he fought Ruslan Provodnikov in Colorado and lost the piece of the WBO world super lightweight title after quitting on his stool in the 10th round.
If fighting in Colorado at altitude was supposed to be an advantage for Alvarado, he did not fight fight like it for the second time in a row at the 1stBank Center. He barely threw a punch in the opening round, and he was bloodied around the nose and mouth before the end of the first three minutes. Rios appeared to smell blood as he poured it on in round two and round three. Alvarado’s corner was screaming at him to throw punches as he basically covered up and took punches. The doctor checked Alvarado after the third round, and the fight was stopped right there.
In the opening bout on the HBO broadcast, undefeated Gilberto Ramirez Sanchez defeated Maxim Vlasov to run his record to a perfect 31-0. Ramirez faced a solid challenge in Vlasov, but his consistent work to the body of the Russian added up and he started to slow down in the last few rounds. Look for the 23-year-old Ramirez’ name to start popping up more as he looks for bigger fights.
