By Mick Akers
Brandon Rios is ready for a war with Mike Alvarado and the boxing community should expect nothing less than a fight of the year candidate Saturday night when the two go head-to-head at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, Nev.
Rios won the first bout with Alvarado this past October via a Round 7 TKO and Alvarado is eagerly waiting for Saturday night to prove the fight was stopped too soon. Rios is looking to best his seventh round stoppage and end the second bout in Round 5. In this one on one interview with Marcos Villegas, Rios opens up on the fight and feels it will be like beginning the 8th round from the first fight. That can me only a good thing as Rios is looking to come bombs away from the moment the bell rings this Saturday night.
Though after all the dust settles and a winner arises from the ashes, do not expect Rios and WBC lightweight champion Adrien Broner to meet in the ring anytime soon, as Rios said with him being with Top Rank and Broner being with Golden Boy, the bout is not likely to happen.
There is one glimmer of hope in the future, as Broner’s contract with Golden Boy is set to expire in April, leaving a small chance Broner will leave Golden Boy for Top Rank or go independent as Shane Mosley, Juan Manuel Marquez and a few other fighters have done in the past.
A move to Top Rank would not only make sense for a possible Rios bout, but it would also allow Broner to keep fighting on HBO, as he calls himself the “King of HBO.”
Another rumored opponent for the Rios-Alvarado winner is WBO welterweight champion Timothy Bradley. Bradley is fresh off his own battle with Rusaln Provodnikov that is the early favorite for fight of the year. So a bout pitting either Rios or Alvarado against Bradley would surely be explosive and a must watch for any boxing fan.
See the full interview below:
