The light welterweight fight between Brandon Rios and Mike Alvarado at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif., on Saturday night lived up to its billing. The two traded major blows and put together some of the most entertaining rounds fans have seen all year. Rios won the fight by 7th-round TKO to remain undefeated.
After the fight, Rios was asked by HBO’s Max Kellerman about potentially facing the winner between Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez, who are fighting in December. He doesn’t think he’d have a problem with either fighter.
“See what happened to Mike Alvarado? I think I could do it to them too,” Rios stated. “Mike Alvarado — I think he hits harder than them and he’s tougher. Pacquiao, he’s an in-and-out guy, but like I always do, Julio Cesar Chavez Sr. taught me very well: you break the body, the head will fall down.”
Rios would likely have to move up to welterweight if he were to face the Pacquiao-Marquez winner. If that fight doesn’t happen, and we’re guessing it doesn’t, there will likely be a big push for a Rios-Alvarado rematch.
When presented with that possibility, Rios said he was willing to fight Alvarado again.
“The fans, you want it? Do you want it? If they want it, I want it, my manager want it, f— it, let’s do it again.”
Alvarado was also open to a rematch.
“I’m still a warrior, I’m still the best in my weight. We could do it again if he wants to,” he told Kellerman after the fight.
Alvarado was disappointed with referee’s Pat Russell’s stoppage in the 7th.
“I was still warming up in there … but the fight went the way it had to go. He shook me up a little bit, but I thought that was stopped a little too early. I could have kept going. I would have gotten my head back and fought through it,” Alvarado told Kellerman.
“I was surprised about [the stoppage]. It was only a couple shots.”
Russell defended his decision to step in and call the fight.
“He had no defense for any of those,” referee Pat Russell said. “I don’t think there’s a fan out there who wants to see a fighter permanently hurt.”
We think Russell made the right decision to stop the fight after the way Alvarado had been rocked. He was defenseless and getting pummeled when Russell stepped in. Some have pointed out that things may have turned out differently had Alvarado gone down to the canvas and taken some time to recover. We’ll never know what could have been. I just know that the decision to stop the fight was the right one.
Just look at Alvarado’s face:
