Some fighters never stop paying dues, even after they reach the grueling heights of a profession as pitiless and as nebulous as any in North America. For Brandon Rios and Mike Alvarado?who brought a prizefight apocalypse into living rooms across the country last October when they assaulted each other over seven delirious rounds in Carson, California?paying dues is a question of style and attitude. Neither man seems interested in having it easy. And they will likely prove this again when they meet in a rematch tomorrow night at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.
For Alvarado to avoid the outcome of his bruising first encounter with Rios?a crushing TKO loss?he will have to rectify some of his mistakes. Most important among them, perhaps, is his tendency to keep his left hand low. In close, Rios works both hands with brio, but at mid-range or from the perimeter, his left hook is his most effective weapon. By leaving a clear path for Rios to shoot rights, however, Alvarado essentially made Rios a two-fisted fighter. A humdinger right over the top left Alvarado in distress in the sixth round last year, and Rios knew then he had a highway to success he could burn rubber on. Stunned by a series of rights in the seventh, Alvarado was knocked cockeyed against the ropes by a barrage that forced referee Pat Russell to intervene.
Because Rios, 31-0-1 (23), sometimes keeps his feet parallel in close, it is imperative to move from side to side against him. Alvarado managed to do that now and then, but too often he would be coaxed to trading bombs on the inside. Although Alvarado, 33-1 (23), seemed to have the lead halfway through the fight, he was working too hard for what amounted to a slight edge. And when his flaws finally caught up to him, he was already too depleted to endure their exploitation. Unless Alvarado can muster the discipline to avoid extended firefights in close?and unless he can keep his left up consistently?a painful sense of d?j? vu may befall him in Sin City. ?I was winning that first fight. But I fought too much,? Alvarado told The Denver Post. ?I let my pride get to me. I thought, ?I can be tougher than this guy.? ?
But is Alvarado as prepared as he needs to be in order to reverse the only loss of his career? Like Timothy Bradley, whose pre-Provodnikov admissions of excessive weight-gain and depression after his tainted victory over Manny Pacquiao suggested a fighter whose professional gyroscope seemed more than a little off, Alvarado, 32, appears to be somewhat unfocused. Cuts sustained in an extracurricular brawl in February have left Alvarado looking like he survived an encounter with a sheepsquatch. Rutted with scars and blighted by stitches, Alvarado seems to be foreshadowing the blood sure to be spilled tomorrow night. In addition, Keith Idec reported that because of his wounds, Alvarado was unable to spar for two weeks. This is hardly the kind of training camp a fighter needs before facing an opponent as unyielding as Rios is.
Another x-factor not present last October is Angel ?Memo? Heredia, a bleak symbol of the PED plague currently afflicting boxing like Yellow Jack afflicted Louisiana nearly 150 years ago. Rios recently announced his affiliation with a man who trails a black cloud wherever he goes. Even in a grimy racket like boxing, Heredia is considered radioactive. Despite being the mastermind of BALCO, Victor Conte has earned a certain amount of respect for doing time in a ?Club Fed? rather than name names. Heredia, on the other hand, stayed out of a DayGlo jumpsuit by testifying against his cohorts. Underworld ethics may or may not be applied to the lawful pursuits of day-to-day life, but, hell, in boxing, what other kind of ethics are there? If a stronger Rios?based on a serious hell-broth concocted with extra measures of eye of newt, toe of frog, wool of bat, and tongue of dog?shows up at the Mandalay Bay tomorrow night, then Alvarado, Thornton, Colorado, may be in trouble no matter how many adjustments he makes.
Over the years, Rios, Oxnard, California, has committed his share of PR gaffes, but inside the ring, where it counts, his biggest sin was not being able to prevent dreary Richard Abril from resurfacing on a premium cable network. ?I?m not trying to be the best;? Rios told HBO for their Road to Rios-Alvarado 2 program, ?I?m not trying to be pound-for-pound. I just love to fight.? Drama is the key to professional prizefighting: creating it, sustaining it, and spellbinding crowds with it. Putting on a good fight is a conscious decision on the part of some pros (Rios to HBO: ?I don?t come to hug. I don?t come to dance. I come to fight, man.?), who understand, even if only intuitively, that the performance is everything.
A.L. Kennedy, when describing the stress a bullfighter goes through a typical season, makes a point applicable to boxers who heighten the risks of an inherently dangerous vocation: ?But in the corrida, the matador is not exposed to physical or emotional damage by duty, or conscription?he is a volunteer, a true believer, a lover with his love. And there is no limit to love, it is quite merciless.? So are the demands of glory in the ring. And as long as fighters like Rios and Alvarado exist?men whose purpose more often than not is to whip spectators into a frenzy?true believers will never become extinct. These are strange dreams these men pursue when they pursue them without mercy.
