It's rare that the sport of
boxing - which too many times lets down its fan base - not only delivers on its
promises but exceeds them. That's precisely what took place at the Home Depot
Center this past weekend as Brandon Rios and Mike Alvarado put on a display of
beautiful brutality that saw “Bam Bam” eventually halt Alvarado after seven
rounds of pulsating action with an ebb-and-flow rarely found in prizefighting
today.
It wasn't so much the “Sweet
Science” but more “Sweet Savagery” that was put on display between these junior
welterweight combatants. The announced crowd of 7,665 in attendance witnessed
the most vicious of serves and volleys at this tennis stadium that is becoming
best known as a boxing venue.
Rios-Alvarado wasn't the
fight we all expected. It was better.
And for Rios, it was not
only a career-defining outing but retribution. After his struggle against
Richie Abril in April, he was roundly criticized for not only failing to make
weight (again) but putting on a rather desultory performance versus the awkward
Cuban. Some athletes try and claim they don't care what's said or written about
them. Rios made it quite clear that he does.
“Did I shut you guys up? Did
I shut you guys up?! “he barked at a group of reporters who followed him back
through the bowels of the Home Depot Center immediately after his fight. “Because
my last performance, you judged me really bad.” He continued his haranguing of
those he felt were overly critical of his last performance. “This is the fight
I wanted to shut everybody up. This is the fight I wanted to shut you guys up.”
Well, Brandon, as I didn’t give
you a standing ovation after your fight back in April and picked Alvarado to
win this fight, you showed me. Point taken. After his bout with Abril, his
stock plummeted to Facebook levels. Now after this victory, he's back to being
Apple stock.
Rios may never make any
pound-for-pound lists (for whatever reason, maybe it's because being an adept
in-fighter isn't considered skillful enough) but he'll always be in some of the
best fights. And boxing needs more of these guys, not fighters who care more
about making business decisions and protecting undefeated records. “I told
everybody it's not about the belts; it's not about the money. It's about the
satisfaction that the fans get out of a fight,” said Rios. Imagine that, a
fighter who actually cares about the fans.
The fight had a certain
back-and-forthing where the momentum not only shifted between rounds but
inside them. At the end of the sixth frame, two scorecards had it even at 57-57
and the third read 58-56 for Rios, who had to walk through some fire to
eventually put the heat on Alvarado. Early on, Alvarado actually outworked Rios
and hurt him with a few long-range right hands. But as he did against the likes
of Miguel Acosta, Rios steadily wore down Alvarado with his heavy hands.
“I just kept doing my game
plan; I knew if I kept going at the body - he was taller than me - the head is
going to fall. Or he's going to bring his hands down; that overhand right is
going to be ready,” said Rios, who explained that because of Alvarado’s slanted
stance, he had problems utilizing his jab and was instructed by trainer Robert
Garcia to go with the double left hooks and the overhand right that visibly
hurt Alvarado in the sixth. The steady pounding attack of Rios has a way of
eventually neutralizing whatever physical and technical advantage his opponents
might have.
In this instance, it was
Alvarado's size. Alvarado, unlike Rios had spent his whole career as a
140-pounder and had the frame of a welterweight. It's one of the reasons
why they wanted the fight so badly- they felt Rios was a blown-up,
undisciplined lightweight.
“Yes, he did,” opined Rios. “Everybody
thinks that they're bigger than me because I'm moving up in weight. They got
something else coming because, as you can tell, I'm a warrior in that ring. I
don't stop; I keep coming, coming and coming. It looks like I'm dying. You
better think twice; I'm coming back with harder shots.” Alvarado was the “Mile-High”
redwood; Rios was the lumberjack who just kept chopping wood all night.
Eventually, Alvarado was cut down.
“I'm the ax-man,” said Rios,
smiling at the thought. “I chop that wood and the tree fell.”
For Alvarado, there was
honor in defeat. Other than the end result, it was pretty much what he
expected.
“I thought I was going to
step around a little bit more; I was expecting like a bigger ring in there so I
could utilize my legs a little bit more. I didn't,” he lamented in his dressing
quarters after being checked out and getting a clean bill of health from the
commission doctor. “I got willed into a slugging-fest with him right away.
Kinda threw my game plan off a little bit but the fight went the way it had to
go.” There were times that Alvarado seemed to be in control and getting the
best of Rios. But it turned out to be a bit of a mirage as the success he had
offensively also led to him to stray inside a bit too long and run into the buzzsaw
from Garden City, Kansas. “Yeah, I didn't have as much control as I thought I
should've. I was letting him inside too easy, letting him go through my shots.
I should've kept him out a little bit more. I was throwing too many shots and
not keeping him out like I should've.”
But Alvarado is now a part
of history; he participated in a fight that won’t soon be forgotten. And
despite suffering his first pro defeat in 34 bouts, he admitted, “That's still
pretty exciting to know that. But losing just sucks but it’s only going to make
me stronger. I'm going to come back twice as strong. Maybe it's what I needed
to be a better fighter. I don't take nothing away from Brandon; he came in and
did what he wanted to do. The fight just ended the way it had to.”
This fight was everything Dennis
Green thought it would be. Crown it.
“Going in, I figured it
would be a tremendous, tremendous fight because of the styles of the two guys.
I figured it would be a great fight,” said Bob Arum, who promoted this event
and handles both boxers’ careers. “Now sometimes when you figure it's going to
be a great fight, it turns out not to be so great. That happens. This really
exceeded what I really thought. I mean, these two guys stood in the center of
the ring; they didn't clinch once. They threw every punch they had at each
other and until the referee stopped the fight, you didn't know who was going to
win.”
When asked about what he had
in mind going forward for this pair, he told the ringside press, “What I would
like - and both have rest obviously - Alvarado would probably contest for a
vacant 140-pound title and Rios, I would say for the winner of [Manny]
Pacquiao-[Juan Manuel] Marquez.”
Rios, a free spirit if there
ever was one, had his own immediate plans.
“Both of us guys need a
vacation after this war.”
STOPPAGE
Just my opinion but I thought
the stoppage of this fight by referee Pat Russell was spot on. Could he or
should he have let Alvarado have another second or two? Perhaps but at the same
time, Alvarado wasn't punching back and it seemed like he was losing control of
his faculties. And while Rios isn't a true one-punch KO artist, he's the type
of consistent and concussive puncher that has you feeling as if you've been hit
with baseball bats for 30 minutes.
In many ways, those types of
punchers are more dangerous to the long-term health of their foes than those
who can stretch you with one shot. Think about it; most ring fatalities come
from long, drawn-out affairs, not the quick knockout.
At the time the fight was
stopped, Rios had seized full control of things and was rolling downhill on
Alvarado. It says here that Russell saved Alvarado from taking a severe beating
and preserved the rest of his career. There are some nights in this sport that
have long-ranging ramifications going far beyond just that particular fight. No
fight ever needs to become fatal. Alvarado will live to fight another day.
“That was an incredible
fight; there wasn't - I don't think - six punches that missed each other. I
never even clinched them. Everything was teed off, weight forward, hands coming
on and it was great,” remarked Russell, who went onto describe the climactic
ending, “These were incredible punches and then, you could see the kid [Alvarado]
start to disassemble and the head goes back and accelerates and decelerates
like that and I told him him four, five, six times, ‘You gotta show me
something.’ We'd gone over this and I'll stand by my statement: I love this
kid; I don't want to see this kid hurt. I want this kid to be able to fight
again and he can fight again. I didn't want him to prostrate on the floor.
Did Alvarado ever
contemplate just taking a knee and getting an eight-count to gather himself?
“I could've maybe; I
could've but at the same time, that's just my heart. It takes over,” he
answered. “So I would've taken a knee and came back but I dunno; I guess my
will speaks louder than just thinking about it. So it's just the way it went,
the way it is.”
Russell, who had not yet had
a chance to really review his call, reiterated, “It's a moment in time and you
have to do the right thing for the moment.”
FLASH
The boos and catcalls could
be heard early on during Nonito Donaire's bout against Toshiaki Nishioka. Let's
face it; he had a very tough act to follow. “You could put anything, [Muhammad]
Ali-[Joe] Frazier, after Alvarado-Rios and people would be booing,” said Arum who,
on this night, was definitely telling the truth. (Honestly, from the very
get-go, the opening bout on HBO should've been the main event on this night but
sometimes corporate agendas trump common sense).
The disturbing trend of
rather dull Donaire fights continues but it's hard to put the entire onus on
him. Bottom line, in boxing it takes two to make a fight. And since the
memorable knockout of Fernando Montiel, the opponents Donaire's been paired
with have been, uh…shall we say...reluctant? Top Rank needs to find a guy who's
willing to take some risk and actually win against Donaire and with guys like
Abner Mares and Leo Santa Cruz over at Golden Boy Promotions, they aren't
realistic possibilities. So that might leave Jorge Arce and there is talk of
this fight happening on December 15th on HBO.
The only issue is that the
badly lacerated right hand of Donaire might keep him out of action the rest of
the year. Seeing him get stitched up - and wincing in pain all the way through
this process – makes you wonder about his availability. In many instances, the
only real remedy for injuries of this sort is rest.
FINAL FLURRIES
It was made official over
the weekend; highly-touted Mexican Olympian Oscar Valdez will be promoted by
Top Rank...The undercard bout between Jose Roman and Javier Garcia was every
bit the grudge match as anticipated (with both hitting the deck) but I'm still
trying to figure out why that fight was stopped after the third round. There
was no clash of heads called by Pat Russell and yet it seemed like Garcia's
trainer, Robert Garcia, talked everyone into it. An official protest has been
lodged by Team Roman...Russell (Wilson) Mania is running wild in Seattle...So
is this the end of Ray Lewis' career?...For as great a fight as Rios-Alvarado
was, it just wouldn't have been the same in an Indian casino or a half-filled
ballroom. So yeah, the crowd matters in boxing, no matter what TV packagers and
casino brokers try and tell television executives...DirecTV subscribers will be
able to watch Lakers game on a regular basis this season, right?...Not going to
lie; I really like “Nashville” on ABC. It's already made the regular rotation. [Editor’s note: A little bit o’ honky-tonk and that super-fine Connie Britton? How can you not watch?!]...I
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