By Geno McGahee
After a rocky first round, Brandon “Bam Bam” Rios, 35-4-1, 25 KO’s, wore Ramon Alvarez, 27-7-3, 16 KO’s, down, and was able to stop him early in the 9th round, mostly from the accumulation of punches.
Alvarez had his moments and it looked like he was going to get rid of Rios early, but Rios was able to walk through his punches and kept pinning him on the ropes. Alvarez spent too much time with his back against the ropes with his hands down and that allowed Rios the opportunity to unload and land and he did, frequently.
After the third round, Alvarez looked noticeably tired. His mouth was open for the duration of the bout and his punches were not as effective or sharp. It was obvious that it was just a matter of time as the fight went into the middle round. Rios puts a check in the win column, but he is in the welterweight division, which is the toughest division in boxing. It’s hard to see him competing with the elite fighters of the division, but he was able to turn back the clock just a bit tonight.
