Five Fighters Follow a Familiar Outline

by Kieran Mulvaney

When boxing fans of a certain age look back on what is generally regarded as the most recent Golden Era of boxing, they reflect not only on the fact that the sport then boasted a quintet of exceptional talent – Sugar Ray Leonard, Thomas Hearns, Roberto Duran, Marvin Hagler and Wilfred Benitez – but that they (and this must always be pointed out with earnest, brow-furrowed emphasis) fought each other.

Of course, they did not always fight each other at the perfect time. Leonard had hinted at wanting to fight Hagler earlier than he did, and in November 1982 even held a press conference that everyone expected was to declare his challenge to the middleweight champion – heck, he even specifically invited Hagler for the occasion – only to instead announce his retirement from boxing (his first of many, as it turned out). Not until almost three years later, after he saw signs of rust in Hagler’s aging chassis, did Leonard emerge from what was already his second retirement to stick-and-move his way to the middleweight crown. None of them fought Duran at anything close to the Panamanian’s prime – except for Leonard, which is one reason why he is the only one of the group to lose to him. And Leonard, Duran and Hearns continued to fight each other long past the time when they should have been warming their feet in comfy slippers by the fireside.

But still, at their peak, they locked horns with enough skill and tenacity to burn themselves into the sport’s lore. “No mas!” and “You’re blowing it, son!” are shorthand for the second Leonard-Duran contest and Leonard’s comeback victory in his first battle with Hearns. The two-plus rounds in which Hagler and Hearns went to war are reverently regarded still as perhaps the greatest eight minutes or so in boxing history.

(Benitez is the Joey Bishop or Peter Lawford of this pugilistic Rat Pack, but he played his role with skill, losing to Leonard and Hearns and defeating Duran.)

It would be premature – and to many, borderline sacrilegious – to compare any group of fighters around the welterweight division to those legends of 1980s vintage, but there is a nice five-person round-robin rivalry underway that kicks into high gear with a pair of bouts later this year: one in Las Vegas, one in Macau.

Timothy Bradley spent plenty enough time calling for a big fight; his 2011 meeting with Devon Alexander was expected to be it, but turned out to be a damp squib. His challenge the following year for Manny Pacquiao’s welterweight crown was his first shot on the biggest of big stages, but it didn’t exactly work out the way he wanted. He appeared to lose the fight, albeit valiantly; instead he was awarded a victory that earned him opprobrium from fight fans. He emerged from seclusion to engage in an enthralling Fight-of-the-Year-quality battle with Ruslan Provodnikov, and now earns another turn in the spotlight, against Juan Manuel Marquez.

Bradley is one of the few guys Marquez hasn’t fought so far in a career that has included tilts against Marco Antonio Barrera, Floyd Mayweather and, of course, on four separate occasions Manny Pacquiao. After their rivalry reached its violent crescendo last December, there was inevitably an assumption that Marquez and Pacquiao would tangle a fifth time, but Marquez apparently thought about the last scene of their rivalry – in which Pacquiao lay face-first and unconscious on the canvas – and decided that he was quite happy to leave it there, at least for now.

So Marquez fights Bradley in Las Vegas, and in China Pacquiao will fight Brandon Rios, who is himself in the midst of an epic rivalry with Mike Alvarado. Having stopped Alvarado in their first encounter last year (in what would surely have been Fight of the Year had it not been for Pacquiao-Marquez IV), he lost a decision in another Fight-of-the-Year caliber matchup in March. For now, while he heals from hand surgery, Alvarado is on the outside looking in, but there's a good chance he'll be up next for the winner of either of these two contests.

Five men, fighting each other, and creating epic battles and unforgettable moments along the way.

Sounds kind of familiar, doesn’t it?

Alvarado Gains Revenge in Thriller, Sets Up Third Match with Rios

by Kieran Mulvaney

Brandon Rios, Mike Alvarado - Photo Credit: Ed Mulholland

It is the job of a boxing writer to convey the sense of the action that takes place in the ring, to document the exchange of blows and the ebb and flow of a contest. But there are times when the action is so intense, the punches thrown so heavy and so numerous, the shifts in momentum so rapid and the violence so intense, when the crowd is screaming so loudly it sounds  as if a jet engine is in full throttle nearby, that all an observer can do is put his hands to his head as his jaw drops open in wordless disbelief.

That was how it was to be ringside as Mike “Mile High” Alvarado and Brandon “Bam Bam” Rios took turns to bludgeon each other to the precipice of unconsciousness, each man administering to the other a savage beating and yet both combatants somehow surviving to remain standing at the end of twelve rounds that left only one question hanging in the air:

When will there be a Rios-Alvarado III?

Read the Complete Brandon Rios vs. Mike Alvarado II Fight Recap on HBO.com

Rios, Alvarado Make Weight, Joke, Taunt

by Kieran Mulvaney

Brandon Rios looked slightly nervous.

Not of his opponent – Rios, more than most boxers, is the kind of fighter who gives the impression he would walk through a hail of bullets to land a few blows on an opponent’s jaw – but of his own body. Having struggled to make weight for a lightweight title defense against John Murray in New York in December 2011 (a struggle memorably captured on HBO’s 2 Days – Portrait of a Fighter), he failed to make the 135 lb weight limit altogether in his next outing, losing the belt on the scale and putting forth a lethargic effort in a controversial split decision win over Richar Abril.

He looked rejuvenated in his subsequent bout, his first in the junior welterweight division, when he stopped Mike Alvarado in the seventh round to end the Colorado fighter’s unbeaten record in a battle that, until Juan Manuel Marquez left Manny Pacquiao face-down and unconscious in Las Vegas last December, was the clubhouse leader for 2012’s Fight of the Year.

But already, on the eve of Saturday’s rematch with Alvarado, the proverbial word on the street was that Rios was now fighting a losing battle to stay within the 140 lb confines of his new weight division, and that a trip to welterweight – the domain of Pacquiao, Marquez and Timothy Bradley – awaited. And indeed, as Rios stepped on the scale at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas on Friday afternoon, it was with a look of apprehension on his face, a look that appeared justified when his weight was read out.

140.5 pounds. Half a pound over the limit. He would have to go away and lose the extra seven ounces, unless …

Rios stripped off his underwear and took his place on the scale again, his modesty protected by a towel and members of his entourage. Apparently, boxer briefs are made of serious material in Oxnard, because in an instant he was on weight and looking relaxed and ready.

Fighters who go to war in a ring can end up despising each other or greatly liking and admiring each other for what they have been through together; if the reaction of Rios and Alvarado after both made weight was anything to go by, the two men clearly fall into the latter camp. They joked around, they smiled, they shook hands, they hugged, and they mugged for the fans – theirs and their opponent’s.

“303! 303!” chanted Alvarado’s supporters, shouting the Denver area code that precedes his (and, presumably, most of their) seven-digit phone number.

Rios, leading a cry in response of “805! 805!”, because showing area code pride is the thing the kids do these days, displayed his middle finger to the Alvarado fans– but he did so with a smile because “I love it when they f*** with me.”

“Is the rematch going to be another war?” he is asked.

“Of course it’s going to be a war,” he replied, before slightly changing his tune. “I don’t give a f***. Fight, box, whatever.”

Alvarado, who gave almost as good as he got before finally succumbing in their first contest, has made it plain which strategy he prefers.

“I’ll box 100 rounds if I have to,” he said before leaving the stage.

He managed to box (and brawl) for six and a half rounds before the freight train that is Brandon Rios finally ran him over in October.  Unless he is the one who finds a way to finish the night early on Saturday, he’ll need to find another five and a half rounds from somewhere, which won’t be easy: whether or not this is already the last time we’ll see Rios at 140 lbs., rest assured he’ll be out to make it as memorable as the first.

Reliving Rios-Alvarado I, Round-By-Round

by Eric Raskin

Brandon Rios vs. Mike Alvarado II is as close as you get to a sure thing in boxing. But if you really don’t like to leave anything to chance, if you want the absolute surest thing imaginable … well, there’s Rios-Alvarado I. We already know what happened there. And we already know how entertaining it was.

So in preparation for Saturday’s rematch, re-watch the Oct. 13, 2012 original, and let this round-by-round guide to some of the fight’s most telling moments enhance the experience:

(Note: The time stamps below indicate the time remaining on the clock in each round.)

ROUND 1:

2:18: Less than a minute into the fight, it’s already obvious that Alvarado wants to box from a distance and Rios wants to get inside. Here, Alvarado gets his way when Rios tries to lunge in recklessly and “Mile High Mike” effectively sweeps him aside with a right hand and maintains his spacing.

1:28: If you were able to sit through Rios’ ugly fight with Richard Abril that preceded this one, you remember him spending a lot of time throwing left hooks from an odd angle in close, with his body positioned mostly outside his opponent’s left shoulder. He tries that here against Alvarado, and though he doesn’t have the leverage to make the punch effective, he wins the exchange because he’s at an angle where Alvarado can’t do anything to him in return.

0:26: Alvarado throws a seven-punch combination, and Rios blocks or slips all seven punches. Let the comparisons between Rios and Pernell Whitaker begin.

0:10: It’s “bombs away,” as Bob Papa says, for the final 10 seconds of the round, which leads to the classic exchange in Rios’ corner after the round about how much he bleeping loves this kind of warfare.

ROUND 2:

1:43: Just how one-sided is the fight when Alvarado keeps it at a distance? Watch him use several jabs to establish the spacing and then land an excellent right hand, buckling Rios’ knees ever so slightly.

0:09: Another great exchange to end the round sends Rios back to his corner with a smile on his face. Yeah, Brandon, we get it, you bleeping love this.

ROUND 3:

2:13: Give Alvarado credit for working with the openings Rios gives him. He knows he can split Rios’ high guard with the jab, and here he begins sweeping around that guard with a looping right hand that is essentially an arm punch but scores points. It is, however, a wide punch that leaves him vulnerable to counters, and Alvarado smartly stops using it after scoring a couple of times.

0:20: The crowd starts chanting “Ri-os! Ri-os!” There’s a place in boxing for the scientists, but they’ll rarely stir up the sort of passion that the sluggers can. As Rios climbs the ladder in boxing, it’s clear he’s making an emotional connection with his fans.

ROUND 4:

2:40: Alvarado uses lateral movement for the first time, and it doesn’t serve him well. He can’t move and punch at the same time, so instead Rios waits for him to pause, then pops him.

0:39: Wars of attrition are frequently decided by who commits more seriously to the body, and here Rios cracks Alvarado with his best bodyshot so far, a left hook. But if it’s headshots you like, sit back and enjoy everything from that bodyshot until the end of the round.

ROUND 5:

2:33: This is Alvarado at his best, first making an adjustment by pinning his right glove to his cheek to block Rios’ hook, then blasting Rios with a perfect right hand to the chin after establishing proper distance.

0:45: Alvarado unleashes a sick little inside combo that ping-pongs Rios’ head back and forth. But interestingly, in the midst of Alvarado’s most dominant round (in which he threw a ridiculous 147 punches), it’s Mile High Mike whose face is increasingly showing damage, particularly his swollen left eye.

0:05: Hey, what do you know, the round ends with a great exchange and Rios heads to his corner grinning from ear to ear.

ROUND 6:

1:47: Alvarado gets off some sweet shots in the midst of a close-range exchange, but it’s a losing proposition in the long run, as he’s fighting Rios’ fight. Notice how much clearer his advantage is just a few seconds later when he starts working behind the jab again.

0:35: And there it is, the big right hand from Rios that hurts Alvarado and, more or less, wins him the fight. Notice that it came immediately after Alvarado had landed some good shots and fell into the trap of exchanging at close quarters.

0:23: To Alvarado’s credit, he keeps his feet, recovers quickly, and is bombing back just a few seconds later. But he spends the final five seconds of the round retreating just enough to send the message that “Bam Bam” was looking for.

ROUND 7:

2:35: Alvarado is pumping out a busy jab, but Rios is now operating like a man who knows he just needs to be patient, wait for Alvarado to pause, and walk in and do his business.

1:15: Rios lands the right hand that makes Alvarado lurch and leads to his demise. A couple more rights and finally a big left hook prompt referee Pat Russell’s intervention, and it’s tough to argue too vehemently with the stoppage. Yes, Alvarado was on his feet and seemed capable of defending himself. Maybe Russell could have waited for another punch or two. But Alvarado’s body language suggested the fight had gone out of him. As the cliché goes, he lives to fight another day—specifically, to fight Rios again.

CompuBox Analysis: Rios vs. Alvarado II

by CompuBox

Like the first Arturo Gatti-Micky Ward fight, last October's meeting between Brandon Rios and Mike Alvarado managed to exceed the already high standards set for it. For seven pulsating rounds they went hammer and tong and only a curiously timed stoppage by referee Pat Russell was able to stop the torrent of blows.

That controversy, combined with the incredible action that preceded it, made Saturday's second act a natural. Rematches can sometimes live up to the original but they also can suffer by comparison. Which slot will Rios-Alvarado II occupy? Their recent CompuBox histories offer the following clues:

The Ultimate Slugfest: Their October 13 classic was a punch-fest of the highest order. Over six-and-two-thirds rounds Rios averaged 81.4 punches per round but Alvarado more than trumped him by unleashing 117.1 per round -- nearly double the junior welterweight average of 60.4.

Read the Complete Brandon Rios vs. Mike Alvarado II CompuBox Analysis at HBO.com.