By Ian S Palmer
WBA World Junior Lightweight Champion Roger Gutierrez of Venezuela will be defending the title for the first time this Saturday, August 14th when he takes on Rene Alvarado of Nicaragua in a rematch. Gutierrez took the title from Alvarado in January in his first defence by a 12-round unanimous decision with scores of 113-112 across the board even though he dropped him twice in the third round and once in the 12th round. The two also met in 2017 when Alvarado won via a seventh-round TKO after Gutierrez suffered a cut eye and his corner threw the towel in. The fight from Dallas can be seen live on DAZN in most nations.
The 32-year-old Alvarado climbs through the ring ropes with a record of 32-9 with 21 Ko’s. He’s fought 246 rounds since turning pro in 2008 and has average power with a knockout ratio of 51.2 per cent. He’s 5-feet-7-inches tall with a 72-inch reach and had won eight fights in a row with five of them coming by stoppage before losing to Gutierrez in January. Before that, he had lost six of his previous nine contests.
Alvarado’s been stopped just once in his nine career defeats and that was at the hands of Andrew Cancio in the eighth round of their first meeting back in 2015. Alvarado’s then stopped Cancio after seven rounds in their 2019 rematch to win the WBA belt. His best wins have been against Cancio, Jayson Velez, Denis Shafikov and Juan Pablo Sanchez. He’s also lost decisions to Yuriorkis Gamboa, Orlando Rizo, Jezreel Corrales, Rocky Juarez, Eric Hunter, Joseph Diaz, and Manuel Avila.
Before winning the title, Alvarado was basically considered a solid journeyman who had taken on some good opponents and had been competitive against them. He didn’t have much luck in the past when stepping up in class other than against Shafikov. Since turning pro he’s also won the WBC Silver Featherweight and WBC International Silver Super Featherweight Crowns.
As for Gutierrez, he’s 26 years old and enters the bout with a mark of 25-3-1 with 20 Ko’s. He’s fought 107 rounds since making his pro debut in 2013 and appears to have quite a bit of power with a current knockout ratio of 69 per cent. Gutierrez stands just over 5-feet-9-inches tall with a wingspan of 69.5 inches. He’s 2.5-inches taller than Alvarado but gives up 2.5 inches in reach.
Gutierrez’s first defeat came at the hands of Alvarado in 2017. He then dropped an eight-round unanimous decision to Hector Tanajara in June, 2018 and was stopped after four rounds by Oscar Duarte in his next outing three months later. His lone draw was a four-round affair with Alfredo Mirabal in October, 2014. Gutierrez’s biggest wins have been against Leonardo Padilla and Eduardo Hernandez.
Prediction…
Gutierrez has power and Alvarado felt it the last time out as he was dropped three times. But even with the three knockdowns he fell short on all three judges’ scorecards by just one point as he was in control most of the way. Gutierrez generally struggles a bit when he steps up in class but he always has a puncher’s chance. If Alvarado can manage to stay in his feet this time around I’m expecting him to regain the title.
