After re-watching the Rios-Alvarez fight...Rios dominated.

I had it three rounds apiece, my buddy had it 3-2 with one 10-10 round. When Alvarado fought off the jab, he would carry the round. But as soon as he got clipped, he wanted a firefight and fell right into Rios's fight.

 

I agree with the idea he should took a knee there, but he was on the move, hands up, trying to avoid the punches. That is what I mean actively. He wasn't returning leather, no, but he was looking to survive the onslaught.

 

I had it pretty much even and came to the point where I said to the other guys I was watching with, " There's not a need for a judge, someone will go down anyway." This was a battle of punch strength and punch resistance.

 

had it even going into the last round

 

he wasn't, his brained switched off, you could see it from a certain angle, he only became fully aware of the situation couple of seconds after the ref stopped it, better to be a punch to early than a punch to late.

 

I saw the same, I rewatched that part over and over, and it appeared to me, he had his hands up but I saw in his eyes he was in la la land.

 

I had Alvarado up 2 rounds. He was landing harder shots and I felt that Alvarado controlled the pace more than Rios did. It was amazing how Rios took those punches without wobbling cause those were some cracking shots. In my opinion it were the last two rounds when Rios connected first time with a FULL power and Alvarado was troubled inmediatetly. Amazing fight!

Those were hard rounds to score. This is an example: Rios connected often with a small left hook inside but Alvardo landed the harder shots

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNJmP_6lRaI[/ame]

 

Yeah, I think the thing that bothered me about the stoppage was the fact that the last hook Rios had landed was of cuffing variety. It's a funny situation where if the fight is stopped a moment sooner (when Alavarado swallowed an enormous right hand), I probably don't have a problem with it. If the fight progrogresses and Alavarado eats just one more clean shot, I'm OK with that too.

But as it stands, the stoppage struck me as being just a bit premature, given the dogfight that had preceded.

As for the fight, I had it 4-2 Alavarado, because of slightly higher workrate in the early going. Yes, Rios may well have dictated the tempo and dynamic of the fight; but fighters can still drop rounds while doing that, if the opponent is performing well (think Chavez-Taylor I).

 

This. The next punch would get through because he couldn't defend it. That punch would assure the next one or two got through. This was the proverbial snowball rolling downhill. I think the ref did an excellent job recognizing that Rios could/would push his advantage to the logical conclusion. In real terms, this fight was already decided.

 

I gave Rios the first 3 rounds. round 6 and of course 7.

So I had it 4-2 without counting the 7th round. If i was going by the RBR on ESB and not watched the fight it would seem that Rios got a lucky KO to save him on his way to losing a wide UD. Not the case at all.

You could see Alvarado throw alot of punches but most of them were caught in his gloves. Rios was landing the cleaner harder shots throughout. Alvarado would land a few head snapping punches here and there but not enough to steal him the round.

 

rios was not dominating anything, it was a gut competete fight until the 7th round, had it a draw

 

He had the presence of mind to try and clinch. He was hurt, no doubts but we've seen guys survive rougher spots. And the shots that immediately led to the stoppage weren't of fight ending calibre. Either way, Rios very well might have made it a moot point in the next 20 seconds. But then again, maybe 5-10 seconds of recovery were all Alvarado needed to clear up. As i said, its not the worst stoppage ever, nor one I'd even classify as horrible.

Edit: Also, I am a proponent of ending it a punch too soon than too late, but I don't think Alvarado was defenseless or switched off as you said. I thought he had his wits about him enough to clinch, to stay on the move. He wasn't a sitting duck.

 

EXACTLY.....mike was done the minute his back hit the ropes...that's when the ref gave him a good chance, but he took 3 more nassssssty shots, and it aint like rios punches like ****en malignaggi.....great reffing for a great fight......

 

Me to a T. Except I had it 3 rounds apiece. Great action fight while it lasted.