( music playing )
Max Kellerman:
The question is will their
names be hyphenated,
Rios and Alvarado,
the way Ward's and Gatti's are?
The way Corrales
and Castillo are?
That's the kind of talk
that has been buzzing
around boxing
since this fight was made.
Jim Lampley:
Oh, what an uppercut
by Alvarado.
Winds up with a right.
Roy Jones Jr.:
And Rios just eats it
and keeps coming forward.
Brandon Rios:
I'm a warrior.
I got balls.
I come to fight.
I don't come to hug,
I don't come to dance,
I come to fight, man.
Kellerman:
You know what I like
that Alvarado does?
He fights like hell
just like Rios.
Mike Alvarado:
No, this is my ring.
You know,
I own this ring.
I'm not gonna back up.
I'm not gonna sit here
and bow down to you.
I'm gonna sit there
and fight.
I'm gonna beat you
at your game.
Lampley:
Mano a mano.
Wow.
Bombs away.
- Rios and Alvarado.
- ( bell rings )
Lampley:
Today, once-defeated
Mike Alvarado
is training at the Azteca
Boxing Club
in preparation
for his March 30 rematch
with Brandon Rios,
an opportunity
that animates everything
the fighter does.
Right hand.
Two jabs.
Alvarado:
There's so much
going into this one.
It's deeper for me
because, you know, I lost.
I hate losing.
Since I did, you know,
it's just--
it's pushing me
that much harder
to do the best I can
to win this next fight.
Pull twice.
I don't want to let
nobody down.
People have kids
coming up to me,
"You're my hero."
I mean, my whole
life's on this.
That's just kind
of the mentality
I've always kind
of pushed with Mike
is the take-no-prisoners
kind of attitude, you know?
We're bringing it
like we always do.
We ain't changing
his style, you know?
We're foot to the metal
the whole time.
Alvarado:
I'm just ready
for this fight.
I'm just ready
to redeem myself
from the last fight.
( electronic bell rings )
Lampley:
75 miles away in
Oxnard, California,
Brandon "Bam Bam" Rios,
unbeaten in 32
professional fights,
also prepares
for the rematch.
Rios:
I'm right here
in Oxnard, California,
at Robert Garcia
Boxing Academy.
And we're here because of
the fact that me and Alvarado
is gonna go at it again.
I'm calling it
World War II.
Hopefully he's prepared
because I'm ready for
another battle.
Robert Garcia:
Well, great training camp.
The only difference is
this time Brandon's gonna
be more explosive.
I think his power is there.
His speed's gonna be there.
It's gonna end
in five rounds.
I'm not trying
to be the best.
I'm not trying to be
a pound-for-pound.
I just love to fight.
He loves to get hit.
I see him getting hit
and I know it's not good,
but deep inside
I feel okay
'cause that's
what he needs
to be able to become
the Brandon that he is,
the beast that he is
inside the ring.
Rios:
I want guys
that come to fight.
I want to test my will.
That's why I like to fight.
That's why I want to do
a Gatti and Ward fight.
Because I want
to test my will.
Lampley:
That will was tested
last year
on October 13, as Rios
and Alvarado met
in one of 2012's
most anticipated fights.
Both of these guys,
Rios and Alvarado,
have that thing in them,
that next level thing.
You hit me,
I'm gonna hit you back
harder and twice.
That's what we all
expect to happen.
I was expecting
the same type of fight.
Just do me.
Do what I do best.
Fight and fight
and fight.
( bell rings )
Alvarado:
I knew he was
a tough fighter.
I knew he likes to just come
forward and make you fight.
I was just trying to go
for a knockout
'cause first time at 140,
in my mind I got to throw
everything hard.
I've got to throw
nothing but power shots
just so I can hurt the guy.
Lampley:
Rios steps in
with a left hand
to the chin of Alvarado.
Oh, and another left hand
right on the button.
Kellerman:
These guys play for keeps.
The punches they're throwing
have knockout written
all over them.
When the bell rang
and Brandon's walking
to the corner
and I see that smile
in his face,
I knew we had the Brandon
that I wanted
to have
in the first round.
- Keep working
those uppercuts.
- ( speaks Spanish )
I know you
fucking love this.
Let's go, all right?
It was great, man.
That's what I love to do.
Like I said,
I love to get hit
once in a while.
Jones Jr.:
This is what
you would call
an old-school dogfight.
Lampley:
Both whale away
with right hands.
I was expecting it
to be a war,
but I was making it easier
when I kept him outside,
when I kept him away from me
at that distance.
Vilhauer:
He'd throw a shot and then
he'd let Brandon back into it.
I think Brandon did
better because of what
we allowed him to do--
not because of what
Brandon was doing,
but because of what
Mike wasn't doing.
I need your hands up, Mike.
I need your hands up.
You hear what I'm saying?
Hands up.
You're letting him steal
the rounds at the end, okay?
Lampley:
Rios in a bit of trouble.
Alvarado letting
power punches go.
It was like,
"Wow, we went at it."
That was the most exciting
round of that whole fight.
We went back and forth,
back and forth
the whole fifth round.
And then when he stopped,
I'd go to work, baby.
My turn.
Bap, bap, bap, bap.
So we was going back at it,
back and forth, back and forth.
It was awesome.
That was a badass round.
Lampley:
Good left-right
combination.
Right hand by Rios.
Kellerman:
I think for the first time
someone's hurt.
Rios:
When I hurt him with
that right, I knew I had him.
I knew I can hurt him.
Oh, yeah.
I'm ready now.
Garcia:
I'd seen it right before
the end of the sixth round.
I'd seen that Brandon
hurt him and it was time
to go out for the kill.
Let's go, Brandon.
You fucking hurt him.
- You've seen it, right?
- Yeah.
Okay, then.
Lampley:
Alvarado takes
a left and right.
Another right hand
rocks Alvarado!
Right hand again!
And referee Pat Russell
steps in and stops it.
I tried to come back.
I put my hands up.
I tried to come back
right away, like, instantly.
I was like,
"What's going on?
Why are you
stopping the fight?
We're still going."
The referee
was doing his job.
He don't want nobody
to get hurt.
He'd seen Mike Alvarado
was defenseless
and he was.
It is what it is.
It was his night.
It was meant for him
to win that fight.
He had my number
that night.
I had to just make
a few adjustments
to not let that
happen again.
At some point do you see
the two of you
getting back in the ring
and doing that again?
You know what?
Right now, the fans,
you want it?
- ( cheering )
- Do you want it?
If they want it,
I want it,
my manager want it,
fuck it, let's do it again.
( cheering )
Lampley:
Five months after their
first epic encounter,
Rios prepares for
the March 30 rematch
once again with longtime
trainer Robert Garcia.
The duo have been together
since 2004.
And it has been
a collaboration that has
served both men well,
helped in part
by the fighter's unusually
affable disposition.
Well, you know,
I got a great personality.
I'm an outgoing person.
I like to tell
a lot of jokes.
I fuck around a lot.
That's 100% true.
Robert's a good
fucking liar, fool.
Robert's a good
fucking liar.
( laughs )
Oh, God, man, Brandon,
the first day he meets you,
he'll start joking
and talking dirty
and just being fun,
just being Brandon.
That's the way
Brandon is.
To all you guys,
fuck you.
Rios:
He's a very great
friend of mine.
He was one of my best men
at my wedding.
He's my nino.
That means he's my godfather.
Garcia:
Brandon is my fighter,
but also like
my little brother.
Now he's married
and now he's got
his own family.
His family
is number one now.
Lampley:
For Rios, home is just
a few miles away
from Robert Garcia's gym.
And it's there,
surrounded by the tranquility
his family provides,
where he feels most at ease.
Rios:
We're at our house.
And after a hard day's
work in gym,
I like to come home
and just relax,
kick it with the family
and don't think about
the gym no more.
I call it daddy time now.
All my kids are named
after fighters.
This is Brandon
Lee Rios II.
Show 'em.
Show 'em. Hyaah!
Hyah, hyah, hyah!
( laughs )
This is my little one,
the little 10-months
right here.
This is my wife
right here, Vicky,
AKA Guadalupe Rios.
( speaks Spanish )
This is my other
daughter, who's named
after another fighter.
Mia St. John.
Right here.
Show you know
how to fight.
Pow, pow.
He's very outgoing.
I mean, he's easy
to get along with.
He's funny.
And one thing
about Brandon,
he's just himself.
Rios:
That's why I like
to have camp here.
It's better, man.
After a hard workout
in the gym,
I come home and I relax,
I get to be with my kids.
You know, I get
to see their faces.
It brings a little
more joy to myself.
Alvarado:
It was meant for me
to be a fighter.
My biological dad
was a fighter.
You know, I didn't know
that growing up.
I really didn't know
my biological father.
It was like I was
leading my life
towards where I am now.
Lampley:
While Mike Alvarado's road
to the boxing ring
may have seemed
predestined,
his original combat sport
was instead on a wrestling mat.
I started wrestling
when I was four years old.
You know,
it was my passion
and that's what I stuck with
for 13 years straight.
I have over, like,
2,500 wrestling matches
in my time.
I think I just got
burned out from it.
I was so good at it,
where else was I gonna take it?
And then one day
I just went to the gym
and it was just like boom,
I had an epiphany
out of nowhere.
It was just like,
"All right, let's try this.
Let's do this now."
Vilhauer:
I had him sparring
like two weeks later.
And he was just
a natural at it.
And the first day he sparred,
he sparred a kid
that had, like, 20 fights
and he was slamming him
around the ring.
And the kid was actually like,
"Oh, I thought I was supposed
to take it easy on him."
Alvarado:
And then I just kept going
consistently
and here I am now
through all that long,
hard road.
I feel like
I'm still learning
this game, you know?
I just started late
in this boxing game.
Lampley:
And with the biggest fight
of his career
in front of him
March 30,
Alvarado knows
he has an opportunity
to rewrite his story.
I'm just happy that
I get another shot.
You know?
I could redeem myself
from that fight.
Yeah, I don't feel
like I made it
to be the best
I could possibly be.
Rios:
I know Alvarado,
he wants revenge.
I know he's 100%
gonna be ready.
So I'm gonna be ready.
And this should be
a great fight again.
We want to win this fight.
We want to show that
we're warriors.
'Cause that's the type
of heart we both have.
Rios:
I don't want to leave it
into the judge's hand.
I'm going
for the 10 count.
I'm preparing myself
for a knockout.
Alvarado:
I could say I'm gonna sit here
and box him the whole time
and try to step around
and make it an easier fight,
but I know it's gonna turn
into another war.
That's just the way
the fight's gonna go.
Lampley:
Brandon Rios
and Mike Alvarado
meet in the ring
once again.
Don't miss the rematch.
Saturday March 30,
on HBO's "Boxing After Dark."
