Rios pursued Alvarado from the opening round and went on to sustain his assault in the second round with ease as Alvarado looked unprepared for what was anticipated as a classic trilogy.
Rios caught Alvarado with several combinations in the third round followed by a series of uppercuts that found their targets on Alvarado’s face and body. A power uppercut by Rios hit Alvarado sending the Denver brawler to tne canvas for the count.
Alvarado failed to answer the bell on the fourth round as the ring doctor ruled Alvarado was no longer fit to take more beating from Rios. View round by round account on Fytehype here.
Rios trained hard for his third encounter with Alvarado in an effort to get back to his glory days when he had a 31-fight win streak with 23 KOs to his credit.
“I had to come prepared, because this could have been the end of my career. I have a lot of gas in my tank still, and I didn’t want that,” Rios told HBO’s Jim Lampley.
For his part, Alvarado admitted that he was ill-prepared for the fight and promised he will get better next time. While training for the fight, Alvarado appeared distracted with his recent encounter with the police for unauthorized use of firearm in which he was required to post substantial amount for his provisional liberty. Read more:
“It was all in the preparation. I didn’t train like I should have,” Alvarado said while getting booed by the home crowd. “I got what I should have got. I’ll get myself out there again,” said Alvarado, who dropped to 34-4-0,with 23 KOs
With an impressive win over Alvarado, Rios will share the spotlight once more with elite fighters in his division and will have more lucrative matches coming his way.
