As satisfying as it felt for Brandon Rios to demolish Mike Alvarado in their rubber match Jan. 24, Rios? easy victory didn?t do much to change the perception of the welterweight brawler from Oxnard, Calif.
An ill-prepared Alvarado was arrested during training camp for their third fight and should?ve postponed it to deal with his issues outside the ring. He lasted all of three rounds against the rugged Rios, who won by technical knockout when Alvarado quit on his stool before the fourth round began.
?We didn?t get no credit for beating Alvarado,? Robert Garcia, Rios? trainer, said on a conference call Wednesday. ?If Alvarado was not prepared or was not ready to fight, that?s not our fault. Brandon went and did his job. If it would?ve been the best Alvarado out there, Brandon would?ve done the same thing.?
If Rios upsets Timothy Bradley in their 12-round fight Saturday for Bradley?s WBO welterweight title (HBO; 9:30 p.m.), it won?t be because Bradley isn?t properly prepared.
The two-division champion hired demanding ESPN analyst Teddy Atlas to train him for this fight. Bradley admitted that their seven-week training camp in Indio, Calif., was harder and more regimented than any he had experienced while working with longtime trainer Joel Diaz, with whom Bradley parted ways late in the summer.
Bradley?s progress pleased Atlas, who has trained former heavyweight champions Michael Moorer and Mike Tyson. The animated Atlas has begged Bradley (32-1-1, 12 KOs, 1 NC) to fight more with his head than his heart.
Rios (33-2-1, 24 KOs) and Garcia don?t expect a vastly different Bradley. They think he?ll revert to brawling when the relentless Rios applies pressure as soon as the bell rings at UNLV?s Thomas & Mack Center.
Nevertheless, they?ve prepared for the best Bradley, the patient technician that impressively out-boxed Mexican legend Juan Manuel Marquez two years ago at Thomas & Mack Center. They?re well aware, however, that many boxing observers consider forever changed by the damage he sustained during his legendary brawl with Russia?s Ruslan Provodnikov in March 2013 and subsequent rough fights against Manny Pacquiao and Diego Chaves.
?The Ruslan fight took a lot out of him,? Rios, 29, said. ?So did the [Jessie] Vargas fight, the Pacquiao fight and the [Diego] Chaves fight. I could be catching him at the right time, but life is crazy. Who knows? We?ll find out.?
Bradley, 32, was way ahead on all three scorecards when Vargas? right hand hurt him with about 20 seconds left in the 12th round June 27 in Carson, Calif. Shortly thereafter, referee Pat Russell confused the 10-second warning for the final bell and stopped the fight eight seconds before the 12th round should?ve ended. By then, Bradley was holding on to survive.
Despite his controversial victory over Vargas (26-1, 9 KOs), Bradley is a 5-1 favorite over Rios, who?s 2-0 since absorbing a brutal beating against Pacquiao in November 2013.
?He?s going to be looking to take me out,? Bradley said of Rios. ?He feels that since I got hurt with Jessie Vargas, if he lands a big shot on me that I?ll get hurt and he?ll be able to finish me. They think that I?m pretty much damaged goods and everybody feels that I?m not the same, that I?m not the same guy. We?ll see. Definitely, we?ll see.?
