Mike Alvarado

Mike Alvarado (born July 28, 1980) is an American professional boxer and former WBO junior welterweight champion.

Early life

Alvarado was born in Denver, Colorado. Mike is the cousin of Featherweight prospect Ricky López and his father was 18-0 boxing prospect Ron Cisneros^[1] "The Rocky Mountain Assassin" who separated with his mother when Mike was young.^[2]

Amateur career

Alvarado was a two time Colorado Class 4A state high school wrestling champion at Skyview High School. Alvarado decided not to wrestle in college and instead selected a boxing career.^[3] In a span of about three years, Alvarado compiled a record of 26-5. Among his defeated opponents were Chad Aquino and eventual 2004 Olympian Andre Dirrell, both of whom he defeated to take the Ringside National Championship in 2001.^[4]

Professional career

Alvarado was going to fight Paulie Malignaggi but he suffered an elbow injury and withdrew from the fight set for June 27, 2009.^[5]

He served a 5 month prison sentence and made a return to boxing with a 2nd round KO of Lenin Arroyo.^[6][7] Alvarado was to fight on Latin fury 15 but was back in jail for parole violations, he had been on probation for traffic and driving offenses and another charge."^[8] Mike would then make a successful return to the ring by knocking out the veteran Joshua Burns.^[9][10] Up to this point in his career, Alvarado had beaten fighters such as Carlos Molina, Michael Clark, Michel Rosales, César Bazán, Emmanuel Clottey, and Juaquin Gallardo.

Alvarado beat Ghana's Raymond Narh (25-1), to win the WBC Continental Americas Light Welterweight Championship, which he would later vacate just before his fight with Gabriel Martinez.^[11][12] This bout was on Showtime's televised portion of the Pacquiao vs. Mosley undercard.^[13][14] Alvarado's next victory was against Gabriel Martínez, to win IBF Latino Light Welterweight Championship. The bout took place on July 30, 2011 in Denver.^[15]

Alvarado vs. Prescott

Alvarado fought Breidis Prescott on November 12, 2011, in Las Vegas, USA, on the undercard of Manny Pacquiao vs. Juan Manuel Marquez III. Prescott started out the fight fast, and was able to out-box Alvarado for the first 5 rounds successfully, building a lead on the scorecards. In the middle and late rounds, Alvarado became the main aggressor, and cut the distance, effectively trading shots with Prescott on the inside, and winning the middle and late rounds. By the 10th round, Prescott seemed out of gas, and Alvarado took advantage launching a large offensive attack in the opening minute of the round. Then, with 1:43 left in the fight, Alvarado knocked Prescott down with left and right uppercuts. Prescott was able to get up, but Alvarado came back with two hard rights sending Prescott to the ropes, and then landed 3 straight right uppercuts. Prescott was leaning forward, hanging onto Alvarado and not returning fire, prompting the referee to stop the fight with 1:07 left in the bout. Alvarado was down 87-84, 87-84, and 86-85 at the time of stoppage, in what was a close fight.

Alvarado vs. Herrera

Alvarado's next fight was against a Top Light Welterweight contender in Mauricio Herrera, at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. Herrera was coming off solid wins over Mike Dallas Jr. and Ruslan Provodnikov prior to his bout with Alvarado. Herrera started off the fight well, successfully beating Alvarado to the punch, and slipping most of Alvarado's attack in the first round. In the 2nd round, Herrera decided to stand and trade with the bigger Alvarado, in a round where Alvarado controlled the pace and landed the harder punches. The pace would continue in the early and middle rounds, with Alvarado taking Herrera to the ropes and landing the harder punches, but with Herrera landing combinations of his own in Alvarado. By the later rounds, Alvarado had seized control, and began to tee off on Herrera, who's eye was completely close by rounds 9 and 10. The fighters ended the fight in the 12th round, trading blows in the middle of the ring. Alvarado was awarded the clear Unanimous Decision win, with scores of 99-91, 97-93, and 96-94. After the fight, Alvarado said he wanted a big fight with Mexican Champion Juan Manuel Marquez, saying he's paid his dues and deserves a big fight at this point.

He was named to "The Gatti List" on The Fight Game with Jim Lampley on HBO in May 2012.^[16] The list consists of the Top 10 most entertaining fighters.^[17]

Alvarado vs. Rios I & II

Coming in as two undefeated fighters, Alvarado faced Brandon Rios at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California on October 13. Alvarado was ahead on the scorecards until the 6th round where in Rios hurt him with a crushing right. Rios was able to stop him in the 7th as referee Pat Russell stopped the bout at 1:57 of the round.^[18] The fight was voted the 2012 Fight of the Year by the Sports Illustrated.^[19]

A much anticipated rematch was held on March 30, 2013 at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, Nevada. Like the first fight, both came in with a lot of fireworks as they continued to go toe to toe, until Alvarado changed strategy and became a lot more evasive and hard to hit with fancy footwork. Alvarado defeated Rios by unanimous decision with scores of 115-113, 115-113 and 114-113 to even up the victory score with Rios, each at this point giving each other their first losses. Top Rank promoter Bob Arum dismissed another rematch and suggested to let the two boxers face other fighters first.^[20]

Alvarado vs. Provodnikov

Mike Alvarado lost his WBO light welterweight title to Ruslan Provodnikov on October 19, 2013 at the FirstBank Center in Alvarado's hometown of Denver, Colorado. Provodnikov was ahead on all three scorecards and had knocked Alvarado down twice in the eighth round, when Alvarado elected to not come out for the eleventh round.^[21] Before the fight, Alvarado was elevated by the WBO to full title holder (as opposed to interim title holder), this the fight against Provodnikov was his first defense of the full title.^[22]

Alvarado vs. Marquez

On May 17, 2014, at The Forum, in Inglewood, California, Alvarado was back in action in a welterweight bout against four-division champion and #6 ranked Ring Magazine pound for pound fighter: Juan Manuel "Dinamita" Marquez. The bout was contested for the WBO International Welterweight Championship. He lost the fight by unanimous decision.

Professional record

34 Wins (23 knockouts), 4 Losses, 0 Draw
Res.	Record	Opponent	Type	Round	Date	Location	Notes
Loss	34–4	Brandon Rios	RTD	3 (12)	January 24, 2015	1stBank Center, Broomfield, Colorado	For WBO International Welterweight title.
Loss	34–3	Juan Manuel Marquez	UD	12	May 17, 2014	The Forum, Inglewood, California	For WBO International Welterweight title.
Loss	34–2	Ruslan Provodnikov	RTD	10 (12)	October 19, 2013	1stBank Center, Broomfield, Colorado	Lost WBO Light Welterweight title.
Win	34–1	Brandon Ríos	UD	12	March 30, 2013	Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada, United States	Won the WBO Interim Light Welterweight title.
Loss	33–1	Brandon Ríos	TKO	7 (10)	October 13, 2012	The Home Depot Center, Carson, California, United States
Win	33–0	Mauricio Herrera	UD	10 (10)	April 14, 2012	Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
Win	32–0	Breidis Prescott	TKO	10 (10)	November 12, 2011	MGM Grand, Las Vegas, Nevada
Win	31–0	Gabriel Martínez	UD	10 (10)	July 30, 2011	Softball Country Arena, Denver, Colorado	Won the IBF Latino Light Welterweight title.
Win	30–0	Raymond Narh	TKO	3	May 7, 2011	MGM Grand, Las Vegas, Nevada	Won the WBC Continental Americas Light Welterweight title.
Win	29–0	Dean Harrison	RTD	4	February 19, 2011	Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
Win	28–0	Joshua Burns	TKO	3	November 20, 2010	WinStar World Casino, Thackersville, Oklahoma
Win	27–0	Lenin Arroyo	TKO	2	April 3, 2010	American Bank Center, Corpus Christi, Texas
Win	26–0	Juaquin Gallardo	UD	8 (8)	May 2, 2009	MGM Grand, Las Vegas, Nevada
Win	25–0	Emmanuel Clottey	KO	10	March 7, 2009	Mile High Events Center, Commerce City, Colorado
Win	24–0	Miguel Huerta	TKO	4	December 19, 2008	National Western Complex Arena, Denver, Colorado
Win	23–0	Manuel Garnica	TKO	4	October 3, 2008	National Western Complex Arena, Denver, Colorado
Win	22–0	César Bazán	KO	4	July 26, 2008	MGM Grand, Las Vegas, Nevada
Win	21–0	Michel Rosales	TKO	7	May 9, 2008	Isleta Casino & Resort, Albuquerque, New Mexico
Win	20–0	Jesús Rodríguez	UD	10 (10)	February 15, 2008	Cicero Stadium, Cicero, Illinois
Win	19–0	Michael Clark	TKO	1	December 1, 2007	Tingley Coliseum, Albuquerque, New Mexico
Win	18–0	Alberto Padilla	TKO	8	August 24, 2007	Congress Theater, Chicago, Illinois
Win	17–0	Francisco Campos	KO	2	June 8, 2007	Hudson & Campbell Fitness Cent, Gary, Indiana
Win	16–0	Carlos Molina	MD	8 (8)	February 16, 2007	Cicero Stadium, Cicero, Illinois
Win	15–0	Edvan Dos Santos	UD	8 (8)	August 18, 2006	Convention Center, Pasadena, Texas
Win	14–0	Maximino Cuevas	RTD	5	June 2, 2006	Envy Night Club, Tucson, Arizona
Win	13–0	Joel De La Torre	UD	8 (8)	March 31, 2006	Edgewater Hotel & Casino, Laughlin, Nevada
Win	12–0	Angel Roman	UD	6 (6)	October 7, 2005	The Aladdin, Las Vegas, Nevada
Win	11–0	Arthur Brambila	UD	6 (6)	September 17, 2005	America West Arena, Phoenix, Arizona
Win	10–0	Chad Lawshe	TKO	3	August 26, 2005	Colonial Ballroom, Houston, Texas
Win	9–0	Solomon Tellez	TKO	3	May 6, 2005	Fort McDowell Casino, Fountain Hills, Arizona
Win	8–0	Hilario Lopez	UD	6 (6)	March 19, 2005	MGM Grand, Las Vegas, Nevada
Win	7–0	Ayaz Qadir	TKO	2	February 18, 2005	Fort McDowell Casino, Fountain Hills, Arizona
Win	6–0	Fernando Chacon	TKO	3	December 17, 2004	Dodge Arena, Hidalgo, Texas
Win	5–0	Andrew Keon	KO	1	October 16, 2004	Radisson Graystone Castle, Thornton, Colorado
Win	4–0	Candelario Garcia	TKO	1	September 18, 2004	Wings over the Rockies, Denver, Colorado
Win	3–0	Robert Howard	KO	1	July 3, 2004	Douglas County Events Center, Castle Rock, Colorado
Win	2–0	Rudy Cruz	TKO	1	April 17, 2004	Pechanga Center, Temecula, California
Win	1–0	Istafa Jihad	KO	1	February 28, 2004	Radisson Graystone Castle, Thornton, Colorado	Pro debut

See also

• Notable boxing families

References

External links

• Mike Alvarado on Twitter
• Professional boxing record for Mike Alvarado from BoxRec