How fast things can change. Two years ago, Mike Alvarado and Brandon Rios were on the Gatti list and two of boxing fans’ most exciting fighters. Now they are both in danger of turning into nothing more than a couple of journeymen. Both men have lost two of their last three fights, and Rios (32-2-1, 23 KO’s) was arguably losing his most recent fight in August against Diego Chaves before Chaves was disqualified in the ninth round.
Mike Alvarado (34-3, 23 KO’s) has also struggled since his victory against Rios in March, 2013 at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, NV. Since that fight, Alvarado, struggled to make weight and was upset by Ruslan Provodnikov last October, and followed that beating by a lackluster performance against Juan Manuel Marquez in May, 2014.
There were talks of a fight between Provodnikov and Rios or a rematch with Rios and Chaves for 2014, but Top Rank Promoter Bob Arum has not seemed very interested in making either of those pairings. The likely reasons are that we all know what Provodnikov is likely to do to Rios (destroy him in similar fashion to what he did against Alvarado), and there is really no public or financial interest in a rematch between Rios and Chaves.
When it comes down to it, Arum is smart enough to know he can milk one or two more fights between Alvarado and Rios. They are perfectly matched, and most of us would be more than happy to tune in and watch them standing in the pocket and beating the heck out of each other. If they both faced other opponents in the upcoming months and lose again, even a rematch between the two loses some luster. However, a third war between them still holds some interest, although neither are more than B level fighters at this stage. Top Rank is very aware of this, so don’t be surprised to see the rubber match, possibly in January with the winner getting another shot at a title; one more time.