Brandon Rios vs. Manny Pacquiao in 2013
Manny Pacquiao of the Philippines lands a punch on Brandon Rios (R) of the U.S. during their World Boxing Organisation (WBO) International 12-round welterweight boxing title fight at the Venetian Macao hotel in Macau November 24, 2013. Pacquiao registered a decisive, unanimous decision win against American Rios to clinch the vacant WBO International welterweight title on Sunday. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu

Brandon Rios pummelled rival Mike Alvarado on Sunday via a third round knockout victory to serve notice in the welterweight division that he is still among the better fighters in that weight class. After the fight, trainer Robert Garcia was confident in saying that the performance of his ward showed what damage can Rios do on top of the ring if he’s on the top of his game. Garcia even said that if they had to fight Manny Pacquiao again, Rios would give the Filipino a better challenge.

“Brandon [Rios] just had a couple of fights, that you know, as he said he, he just got too comfortable, too much money, but the Brandon that fought today would give a hell of a fight to [Manny] Pacquiao,” Garcia said in an interview with Fight Hype. “…[Brandon] didn’t really train hard [for the Pacquiao fight]…”

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Garcia, who is one of renowned trainers in the sport, credited Rios’ ability to follow their game plan and their great training camp in Denver, where they were two weeks before the bout. While Rios’ and Garcia’s strategy worked last Sunday, the opposite was true on Nov. 11, 2013 when Pacquiao dominated Rios in 12 rounds with the Filipino winning by unanimous decision. The scorecards showed 119-109, 120-108, 118-110 for Pacquiao underscoring the dominant win over Rios, who never had a chance in that fight held at the Cotai Arena in Macau.

“I still got a lot to prove. I did a great job, head movement, boxing, jabbing, cut the corner off, cut the ring off…” Rios said in a separate Fight Hype interview and also echoed his trainers’ comments about their excellent preparation for his third bout against Alvarado. “I did it perfect this time. I had a great training camp.”

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Rios (33-2-1, 24 knockouts) and Alvarado (34-4-0, 23 knockouts) met twice in the past. First on Oct. 13, 2012 when Rios won via technical knockout in the seventh round. Alvarado returned the favour on March 3, 2013 winning via unanimous decision in what was a bout that was a candidate for the “Fight of the Year” during that year. With his latest victory, albeit against an unmotivated Alvarado, Garcia believes that Rios is ready for the bigger match-ups against big name fighters— and that might include another shot at Pacquiao in the near future.

To contact author of this article, email j.quizon@IBTimes.com.au.

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