After two grueling battles over the last two years, Brandon "Bam Bam" Rios (32-2-1, with 23 victories by knockout) will face Mike "Mile High" Alvarado (34-3, with 23 wins victories by knockout) will square off for the third, and possibly final time to settle the score.
The first encounter between both fighters happened during the undercard of the Nonito Donaire-Toshiaki Nishioka bout in October 2012. During this initial confrontation, it was Rios who emerged victorious in what seemed to be a Fight of the Year candidate. "Bam Bam" finished off "Mile High" via a seventh round stoppage.
The second fight proved to be a far cry from the first, as Alvarado chose to intelligently box and use his distance instead of fighting in a phone booth battle with Rios, who was more comfortable from such range. Despite being dropped in the early rounds, Alvarado was able to capture win this time around through a unanimous decision verdict en route to the WBO interim light welterweight title.
For this third bout, both men will be given a chance to prove which one of them really is the victor. The fight is scheduled to take place at the 1stBank Center in Broomfield, Colorado, which is closer to Alvarado's hometown of Denver. And this time around, both fighters will be competing at the welterweight limit of 147-pounds.
The finalization of the match-up was announced by Top Rank Vice President and matchmaker Carl Moretti, in an interview with RingTV.com.
In a separate interview with ESPN.com, Moretti was all praises for the previous two bouts between Rios and Alvarado, and even went as far as comparing it to the all-time great trilogies, such as Barrera-Morales and Gatti-Ward.
"As far as trilogies go, this should rank right up there with some of the best trilogies to ever happen in the lighter weight classes," he said.
