IBR on The Cruelest Sport

While the acrimony between boxing’s two biggest promotional companies, Top Rank and Golden Boy Promotions, is not without its casualties, it has resulted in some compelling fights. Consider Top Rank’s junior welterweight and welterweight stable, where Manny Pacquiao, Juan Manuel Marquez, Timothy Bradley, Mike Alvarado, Brandon Rios and Ruslan Provodnikov (promoted by Artie Pellulo, and therefore not the enemy) are in the second phase of what looks like an unofficial round robin. Tomorrow night, Alvarado and Provodnikov will try and add their names to the winner’s bracket when they meet in a junior welterweight fight from the 1stBank Center in Denver, Colorado.

Read Hair Trigger: Mike Alvarado-Ruslan Provodnikov Preview on The Cruelest Sport.

IBR on The Cruelest Sport

“To alter his fate Alvarado would have to outbox his rugged antagonist, and while Rios could be outboxed, the odds of a thuggish former wrestler who came late to the sport being able to do it were slim. Yet this is precisely what Alvarado did. Under the lights of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, a city fueled by foregone conclusions and hopeless delusions, Alvarado outboxed Rios over twelve heated rounds, winning a unanimous decision.”

Read “Blood In, Blood Out: Mike Alvarado W12 Brandon Rios” on The Cruelest Sport.

IBR on The Cruelest Sport

‘“First lies, then pressure, then more lies, then more pressure, then the truth. That is how you get the truth.” This is the cruel methodology of Colonel Joll in “Waiting for the Barbarians.” One can see this drama playing out as Alvarado boxes to middling effect; Rios all the while pressuring him, hurting him, and exhorting him to reciprocate until the lies are worn away and this truth is bared: an entertaining loss to Rios may be Alvarado’s ceiling as a fighter.’

Read Turning Screws: On Brandon Rios-Mike Alvarado II on The Cruelest Sport.