Humberto Soto foils Brandon Rios' desire to win in ring-return, wins a decision on Saturday night at the Auditorio Municipal, in Tijuana, Mexico.

Soto, (69-9-2, 37 KOs) looking sharp with his combination punching was able to pull a unanimous decision victory over Brandon Rios for the junior middleweight contest.

The scores were 119-111, 118-112, and 118-112.

It was a fun fight, watching two former lightweight titlists fighting far way north from their best division and fast their prime too. But the entertainment value never faded as the two were battle-tested warriors on their rights.

In the end, it was Soto who got the nod of three judges. He was able to bank the first few early rounds of the fight. He utilized his experience well throwing uppercuts that connected at will to a surging and leaning forward march of Rios.

The combination punching of Soto was effective as Rios looking for an opportunity to counter moving forward. Soto fired combinations ranging from 3 to 5 punch combo and then disengage. His strategy would force Rios to reset, move again forward, met again with combination, and then Soto disengage.

To his credit, Rios (35-5-1, 26 KOs) never back down, continued to surge forward. He absorbed the best shots Soto can muster and had some few moments in the ring in the later rounds. He was very game to match Soto in a toe-to-toe action. He was in the pocket all night to engage but came up short.

Rios had great plans for his return as he had his eye on another world title. He promised her daughter to bring another title belt. But for now, he has to go back to square one and check what are his options.

Rios was successful at the lightweight division where he used to bully opponents. As he climbed north of the lightweight division his power was simply not there.

With the win, Soto at 38 years old could be somehow got some boost in this stage of his boxing career, but of course, he's really on the other side of the hill. And could probably have few fights left. With his performance, could probably pull one big fight before really calling it a day, depending on the outcome.

Danny Garcia and Brandon will face Saturday night at the Mandalay Bay Hotel & Casino, Events Center, Las Vegas for a 12-round welterweight bout.

Garcia and Rios came in at 146.5 pounds during the official weigh-in on Friday. Both men looked very impressive and in tremendous shape. If you look at Rios in many of his weigh-ins in the lower divisions, he looks drained and pale. And as he climbed on to higher division, he looks fat on those few weigh-ins in the past. As to Danny Garcia, he always came in shape at every division he fought into.

These two guys have similar numbers if you look into their height, reach, and age. Garcia stands 5'81/2", reach 174 cm. Rios, 5'8", reach 173 cm. A slight advantage on Garcia though but I don't see it really matters.

As I look at it, the fight is good till Rios' chin still able to absorb those overextended right hooks from Garcia or an overhand right counter. The style of Rios looks tailor-made for Garcia. Rios loves to come in and Garcia loves to counter with some little angle maneuvers. If you look at Rios's previous fights, he loses to fighters that adjusted his fight and by not fighting his fight, which is toe-to-toe, tough-to-tough bravado.

Well, of course, I'm not counting Rios on this fight, I mean if he could lure Garcia to fight his fight then he has the chance of knocking Garcia also. Rios has this tendency of talking in the ring that could really piss an opponent. A style that would lure an opponent to answer fire with fire.

Hunger to win

Garcia would not want back-to-back losses here obviously. He really would go back to the win column to get back on track and go back to where he's at prior to the Thurman loss.

Rios on the other hand, looking also to get a solid win. I mean a win from Danny Garcia will boost his rank among the top welters. It's the hottest division so far.

During the weigh-in, Garcia said "I'ma do what I wanna do. Like I said before, it's the Danny Garcia show... I'ma put him to sleep!"

In response, Rios said, "I can win this fight. I won my world title why can't I beat Danny Garcia? He's nobody special. Everybody thinks he's somebody special, he ain't nobody special. I'm ready for this guy."

On Saturday night, WBO welterweight titlist Timothy Bradley (33-1-1, 13 KOs) out-boxed, out-hustled, and outclassed a shot and out of shape former world titlist Brandon Rios (33-3-1, 24 KOs) in the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas. Bradley put on a boxing clinic against the straightforward brawler and ended up knocking him out with a multitude of body shots in the ninth round. Bradley displayed immense defensive skill I have never seen in his previous fights. Amazing what seven weeks with one of the greatest boxing trainers on earth could do. That trainer is Theodore “Teddy” Atlas.

Teddy agreed to train Bradley after swearing he would never return to work with fighters after a brief stint with former heavyweight Titlist Alexander Povetkin a few years ago. Teddy is most widely known these days for being an exceptional boxing commentator. In fact, he's one of the best in the business. Although prior to putting on the headset and preaching the gospel of the sweet science, Teddy trained several fighters most notably heavyweight champions Michael Moorer and Mike Tyson.

Teddy is a true boxing savant who teaches the true essence of "hit and not gets hit.” Teddy has a huge emphasis on defense. Teddy is an outspoken trainer who is not shy about harping on his boxers to maintain discipline and focus throughout the fight. A classic Teddy moment is when he told Michael Moorer to stand up from his stool in between rounds during a championship fight against the great Evander Holyfield. Teddy decided to sit on the stool and tear Moorer a new one in an attempt to motivate him. Teddy is still the same emotional and passionate Teddy, as he was on full display in the corner of Bradley.

Although I saw something very unique about the demeanor of Bradley when Teddy was feeding him information in the corner. Bradley was wide-eyed and soaking it all in. Teddy had Bradley’s full attention and he hung on every word Teddy said.

A trainer/fighter relationship in combat sports is crucial. Like any important relationship, in life, the pair has to work well with one another. There have to be open lines of communication, transparency, and most of all trust. A fighter depends on the trainer to guide him through the unforgiving sport, not only in the corner but throughout training camp. If the fighter can not depend on his trainer, the consequence could be deadly..literally. The trainer is a teacher, friend, motivator, and even a therapist. The trainer has to be there day in and day out, is just as committed as the fighter.

There have been many examples of phenomenal fighter/trainer pairings. Examples such as Dundee/Ali, D’amato/Tyson, Stewart/Hearns, Stewart/Klitschko, Roach/Pacquiao, and Mcgirt/Gatti. Of course, you can't forget about the father and son duos such as the Trinidads, the Calzaghe's, the Mosleyses, and last but not the least, the Mayweathers.

The boxing world is now comparing the chemistry that Teddy and Bradley have to the great chemistry Roach and Cotto have after only one fight. Teddy is now even calling out Mayweather. Although I do agree Bradley looked excellent against Rios, Teddy should give his fighter a fight or two to get accustomed to him before stepping in with the "retired" pound-for-pound best fighter in the world.

So in due time, we can only hope this is another phenomenal fighter/trainer pairing that will be remembered for a long time.

[caption id="attachment_5083" align="alignnone" width="725"] Photo: Chris Farina / Top Rank[/caption]

Brandon Rios overwhelmed and ultimately stopped rival Mike Alvarado, after round three of their third encounter at the 1stBank Center, Broomfield in Alvarado’s backyard in Colorado. The referee, with the advice of ringside physician stopped the contest after a brutal third round.

Rios (33-2-1, 24 KO's) was the same savage fighter who wants carnage inside the ring. He came out exactly the same warrior that he is in the first two encounters. He started marching forward from the get-go. And he swarmed the ill-prepared Alvarado with overhand lefts and right uppercuts. The uppercuts were the culprit of Alvarado’s destruction. God knows how many times Alvarado’s head tossed up every time the right uppercut connects.

In the second round, there’s no sign that the vicious Alvarado (34-4, 23 KO's) of the first battle would show up. There’s no sign that the more tactical sound Alvarado of the second battle would show up. Instead, it was the unprepared Alvarado who showed up and broke the heart of Colorado fans. Cheers during the ring entrance turned boos for Alvarado during the interview.

Perhaps, Alvarado’s best punch was the low-blow that dropped Rios on his knees. The short time that Rios stayed down was too precious for Alvarado. The Denver homeboy was able to find where exactly he is in Denver. Maybe without that low-blow, the fight would have end in the second round itself.

In the third, it is obvious that the accumulation of power shots would not bring Alvarado further into the final bell. A series of overhand left, right upper cuts dropped Alvarado in the third. He managed to stand and finished the round. But it was obvious he’ll not be there for long.

During the break in the third round, ringside physician checked Alvarado’s condition. The doctor was not convinced and advises referee Jay Nady that Alvarado’s not in the position to continue. Nady stopped the fight and saves Alvarado for further beating.

In the end statistics won’t lie. It showed how gun-shy Alvarado was and how trigger-happy Rios was. Rios punches that landed are more than the total punches Alvarado thrown. Rios landed 120 of 290 (41%), and Alvarado only 20 of 87 (23%).

With the defeat, coupled with legal problems, Alvarado’s career could be nose diving. Henry Delgado, Alvarado’s manager, was uncertain on Alvarado's future in boxing. That is even before the Rios fight.

With the win, Rios could again try to comeback to a level where he tried to climbed and failed – the elite level. And that means big fights and big payday.

Boxer Mike Alvarado was arrested on Saturday in Denver according to a report from The Denver Post.

Alvarado is several weeks away from his fight with Brandon Rios. The anticipated trilogy is scheduled on 24th Jan. at the 1stBank Center, Bloomfield, Colorado. Alvarado's preparation for this "must win" fight of his career might be jeopardized. But Henry Delgado, Alvarado's manager, assured that "there's no problem with the fight."

"As long as he's out. And he's been bailed out. The fight's only in a few weeks. I don't see that being a problem."

Alvarado who had two classic war with Rios is in a "must win" situation. After he evened up the score with Rios in a rubber match, Alvarado had lost twice in a row in his last two fights. He was knocked out by Ruslan Provodnikov in October 2013 and dropped a unanimous decision over Mexican great Juan Manuel Marquez in May 2014.

Although Delgado assured Alvarado's fight with Rios will have no problem, but he is uncertain on Alvarado's future in boxing.

"But after that, [fight with Rios] I don't know" said Delgado.