Brandon Rios and Mike Alvarado faced off last night in a junior welterweight fight on HBO. It was seven rounds of action before the referee stepped in to stop Alvarado from taking a beating. Up until then, the fight had been close with two judges having the fight even (57-57) while the other had Rios by a small margin (58-56). ESPN’s Dan Rafael was clearly smitten with the action:

They combined to throw 190 punches in the first round and never let up. They rocked each other repeatedly. There was a left hook from Rios that badly shook Alvarado at the end of the second round. By the fourth round, Alvarado’s face was swelling.

The fifth round was a round of the year candidate. Alvarado looked like he had Rios in trouble early, rocking him with a right hand and sending his head wobbling all over the place. He hurt Rios (31-0-1, 22 KOs), 26, of Oxnard, Calif., with an uppercut, and he looked like he might knock him down. But Rios rallied over the final 30 seconds, landing his own big shots as the crowd went wild.

Both were hurt at different points in the sixth and seventh before Rios landed a flurry, including a right hand that sent Alvarado (33-1, 23 KOs), 32, of Denver, staggering into the ropes. A few shots later Russell jumped in to stop it at 1 minute, 57 seconds.

Rios is now 31-0-1 in his career. The loss was the first of Alvarado’s carrer. Here is a link to the complete Brandon Rios – Mike Alvarado fight video, if you’re into that kind of thing. Watch it while it lasts, or just catch a replay on HBO.

[ESPN, Getty]