By Ian S Palmer
Former WBO interim junior welterweight champion Mike Alvarado of Denver, Colorado returns to the ring this Saturday, March 19th when he takes on Mexico’s Saul Corral. The bout is scheduled for just eight rounds in the welterweight division and will be taking place at the Aerial Theater in Houston, Texas. This is the 35-year-old Alvarado’s first fight in over a year and he’ll enter the ring with a record of 34-4 with 23 Kos while Corral is 19-6 and has 10 Kos to his name. The contest can be seen live in the U.S. on the UniMas network at 11pm ET.
Alvarado has been involved in some wars during his career and it’s not clear how much he has left in the tank, especially at the age of 35. Fans shouldn’t be surprised if he shows some ring rust early on since his last fight was in January of last year. The Denver native has just one win in his past five outings with the other four being losses. He was stopped by Brandon Rios in the seventh round in 2012 and the third round in 2015. He was also stopped by Ruslan Provodnikov in the 10th round in October of 2013 and dropped a unanimous 12-round decision to Juan Manuel Marquez in May of 2014.
Alvarado has had some problems out of the ring with the law and alcohol, but has claimed to have set things straight after attending rehab. He stands 5-feet-9-inches tall with a 69.5-inch reach and has pretty good power with his current knockout ratio standing at 61 per cent. Unfortunately, the height and reach of Corral are unlisted and he has a knockout ratio of 40 per cent. In fact, his age isn’t even listed. Alvarado has boxed 207 rounds since turning pro in 2004 while Corral has boxed 122 rounds since 2006.
There’s just one opponent on Corral’s list that fans have heard of and that’s Dierry Jean, who stopped him in the first round of a scheduled four rounder back in 2007. Many of Corral’s opponents have had losing records. Although he’s been beaten six times, four of those were by decision and one was a disqualification. Therefore, it could be safe to say that he has a decent chin and we all know Alvarado can also take a hell of a shot even though he’s been stopped three times.
Prediction
Alvarado is an exciting, world class boxer who has been involved in his fair share of slugfests. He can give and take with the best of them, but he also could be a shot fighter at this point of his career. If he loses to the unheralded Corral on Saturday then it’s probably safe to assume Alvarado has nothing left. If he’s sorted himself out in rehab and is serious about continuing his career though, he should be able to stop Corral within the allotted eight rounds.
