A rematch has been set for one of the best fights of 2012, the war between Brandon Rios vs. Mike Alvarado which the undefeated “Bam Bam” won by 7th round TKO last October. According to Kevin Iole on Yahoo! Sports, Rios vs. Alvarado II is finalized for March 30th at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, Nevada, and will be televised on HBO.
To be honest, I’m torn about how to feel on Rios vs. Alvarado II. It was a sensational, scintillating fight, and there’s no doubt that it was exactly the kind of action that fight fans crave. On that note, it’s basically a can’t-miss, and it’s certainly a fight that I will be happy to put on television and enjoy.
It’s just that I would rather see Rios, already a top 5 fighter in the junior welterweight division, and a fighter on the cusp of top-20 pound for pound candidacy, get in there with one of the best fighters in division.
In the first fight, Alvarado was significantly stronger than Rios, which enabled him to basically absorb a massive amount of punches, and continue to dole out punishment in return. He had Rios badly hurt on occasion, and potentially could have won the fight.
Coming off the loss though, I don’t envision him being able to do much differently. I think Rios is the superior fighter of the two, and he’s not the one fresh off a knockout defeat. Rios vs. Alvarado II will be another great fight, although I suspect more one-sided for Rios, and it’s simply not a rematch that needs to occur.
Of course, Top Rank had been hoping to put Rios in there with Manny Pacquiao, while the bulk of the rest of the top 140-lbers in the world reside over at Golden Boy. You know, names like Danny Garcia, Lucas Matthysse, Amir Khan, Marcos Maidana and now Lamont Peterson, to name a few.
Since Top Rank has no qualms about scuttling big fights (See: Nonito Donaire vs. Abner Mares) due to preferences in keeping the business within the Top Rank family, of course it makes sense that Rios, instead of fighting Pacquiao, would simply fight Alvarado yet again.
Rios vs. Alvarado II will be a fun one to watch — but a fight like Rios vs. Matthysse would be even better, with significantly more at stake.
