Redemption: Mike Alvarado-Brandon Rios III

Dec

Photo by Chris Farina/Top Rank Promotions

Mike Alvarado will be out for “redemption” while Brandon Rios is willing “to go to the center of the ring and trade” during their third fight at The 1stBank Center in Bloomfield, Colorado, on Jan. 24.

Having split their prior bouts as junior welterweights, Rios (32-2-1, 23 knockouts) and Alvarado (34-3, 23 KOs) will contest their HBO-televised rubbermatch as welterweights.

“This is a rematch made in heaven. Their first two fights were barnburners and arguably ‘Fights of the Year,'” said Todd duBoef, president of Top Rank Promotions. “Alvarado and Rios know what is at stake. Fans can expect to see a finale that will rival – if not surpass – the legendary [Erik] Morales-[Marco Antonio] Barrera and [Manny] Pacquiao-[Juan Manuel] Marquez wars.”

A former lightweight titleholder, Rios is 2-2 in his past four fights. The 28-year-old slugger is coming off a ninth-round disqualification victory over Diego Chaves in August to bounce back from a unanimous decision loss to Manny Pacquiao in his welterweight debut last November of last year.

Prior to Pacquiao, Rios had split junior welterweight bouts with Alvarado, stopping him in the seventh round in October 2012 but losing their rematch by close unanimous decision in March 2013.

“If Alvarado wants to go to the center of the ring and trade, he will feel my power right away,” said Rios. “A few of my big punches and he will change his game plan. That’s when I hunt him down, win the fight.”

Alvarado, 34, is 3-3 in his past six fights, starting with a bloody 10th-round knockout of Breidis Prescott in November 2011 that was followed by a unanimous decision over Mauricio Herrera in April 2012.

After his second fight with Rios, Alvarado was dropped twice in the eighth of a 10th-round stoppage loss to Ruslan Provodnikov in October 2013 before swapping knockdowns with Juan Manuel Marquez en route to a unanimous decision loss in his last fight in May.

“This is going to be like our wars in fight No. 1 and fight No. 2. We are two warriors,” said Alvarado. “We will go into the middle of the ring and mix it up. For me, all of this is for one thing – redemption.”