LAS VEGAS – Mike Alvarado and Brandon Rios engaged in yet another epic match, filled with passion, fury and plenty of clean right hands. Brandon Rios lands a punch against Mike Alvarado. (AP)

Alvarado claimed the interim WBO super lightweight belt with a sensational unanimous decision victory over Rios on Saturday at the Mandalay Bay Events Center that was at least the equal of their 2012 classic.

Rios won that bout by seventh-round stoppage, so Saturday's win for Alvarado lined up what will unquestionably be a hotly anticipated rubber match.

"One thing that you know, as much as you know that the sun is coming up tomorrow morning, is that they will fight again," promoter Bob Arum said.

The battle was so fierce, each man wound up in a local hospital to receive precautionary examinations. Neither had any serious injuries.

The second round was a toe-to-toe exchange in which each landed crushing shots. It was stunning that neither went down, though Alvarado seemed to be hurt and staggered backward twice.

Read More »from Mike Alvarado levels score with Brandon Rios after 12-round war, rubber match surely on tap

If it were Floyd Mayweather Jr., and not Robert Guerrero, who had been arrested on Thursday at New York's John F. Kennedy Airport for having an unregistered gun, Twitter's servers might have exploded from the unmitigated hate that would have ensued.

Robert Guerrero is scheduled to fight Floyd Mayweather Jr. on May 4 in Las Vegas. (AP)Guerrero made a massive error in judgment by bringing an unloaded pistol and three unloaded high-capacity bullet magazines with him on a promotional trip that brought him to Virginia and New York.

At the end of the day, though, it shouldn't affect Guerrero's bout with Mayweather, and he probably won't spend a day in prison.

Guerrero is scheduled to fight Mayweather, boxing's best fighter, on May 4 at the MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas in the year's first mega event. He had flown to the East Coast where he appeared Monday on The Christian Broadcasting Network's "700 Club," along with his wife, Casey, to talk about their faith.

He informed a Delta ticket agent at JFK early Thursday while attempting to board a flight to Las Vegas,

Read More »from Robert Guerrero's N.Y. gun arrest likely won't impact his fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr.

LAS VEGAS – Standing in the lobby of Mandalay Bay late Tuesday afternoon, veteran Top Rank Boxing publicist Lee Samuels paced back and forth, a frown creasing his face.

In a few moments, I was to meet Mike Alvarado to watch a replay of his epic 2012 loss to Brandon Rios.

Alvarado, Samuels warned me, had only watched a replay of the Oct. 13 bout in Carson, Calif., once. It was one of the great fights of the 21st century, but Rios won it by seventh-round stoppage.

Brandon Rios (right) and Mike Alvarado have different views of how their epic brawl unfolded. (Getty Images) It was the first loss of Alvarado's career. He'd agreed to sit and watch the fight with me, but Samuels repeatedly warned me to be cautious.

"Dude, that was a tough fight," Samuels said, chuckling nervously. "And he hasn't seen it that much. Bad memories. Be careful."

Alvarado arrived in the lobby with manager Henry Delgado and we walked to the VIP room, adjacent to the casino, where I popped the DVD of the first fight into my MacBook Pro and we began to watch.

What followed was a fascinating look inside the

Read More »from Two views to a brawl: Come along as Brandon Rios, Mike Alvarado each re-watch their epic fight

LAS VEGAS – One of the great things about boxing is that a fighter can win even when he loses.

Though Mike Alvarado has a defeat on his record as a result of his bout last year in Carson, Calif., with Brandon Rios, his professional reputation was greatly enhanced.

Mike Alvarado (left) doled out some serious punishment before being stopped by Brandon Rios. (Getty Images)Prior to their epic Oct. 13 battle under the lights at the Home Depot Center, which was one of the best fights not only of 2012 but of the 21st century, Alvarado was largely an unknown beyond the tiny hardcore fan base. He had gotten precious little television exposure despite winning his first 32 fights and had been on the outside looking in when it came to major fights.

Then, came the super lightweight bout with Rios, one awaited eagerly by those few who had closely followed the career arcs of both men. It didn't take a boxing savant to understand that a fight between Rios and Alvarado would be nonstop action.

In boxing parlance, both men were warriors, the kind of fighters who seem to take a suggestion to slip

Read More »from Slugger Mike Alvarado not changing anything in sequel to epic brawl with Brandon Rios

Filter through all the threats of lawsuits and legal mumbo jumbo and the motivation behind Nick Diaz's complaints about irregularities at the UFC 158 weigh-in on March 15 in Montreal boils down to one salient fact:

He wants a rematch. Nick Diaz talks during a press conference. (Getty)

Diaz did a magnificent job selling his fight against Georges St-Pierre, a bout few experts gave him a chance to win. That it became one of the top five best-selling UFC pay-per-views in company history is, in large part, a testament to Diaz's work in the weeks leading up to the fight.

He gave fans who should have known that St-Pierre's dominant wrestling would control the fight reason to believe he might win it.

St-Pierre fans turned out in droves, hoping to see their hero give the brash and cocky anti-hero his comeuppance.

All of that was attributable to Diaz's media appearance before the fights. He appeals to a different generation of fans that the UFC doesn't often reach, and he brought them out in large numbers.

But now, nearly two

Read More »from Nick Diaz's camp can cry foul play all it wants; he's not getting a GSP rematch anytime soon

When former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson was in his power-punching prime, it sounded as if gunfire were erupting in the gym as he hit the heavy bag during drills.

There hasn't been a fighter since with anywhere near that kind of power.

Until now, that is.

Middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin, who defends his WBA belt in a pay-per-view bout against Nobuhiro Ishida on Saturday in Monte Carlo, has the kind of pop that helped make Tyson a Hall of Famer and iconic figure in the sport.

In his successful Jan. 19 title defense at Madison Square Garden in New York, Golovkin continually hurt challenger Gabe Rosado with his jab.

Golovkin punches with a free and easy motion and doesn't seem to be exerting himself greatly. But when his shots land cleanly, the impact is usually huge.

"I call him the middleweight Mike Tyson," said trainer Abel Sanchez, whose job it is to help Golovkin channel his power properly. "He hits so, so, so hard, it's incredible. A coach dreams

Read More »from Power play: Undefeated Gennady Golovkin has the punching ability to become boxing's next big thing

Johny Hendricks has fought his way into the Yahoo! Sports pound-for-pound rankings.

The two-time NCAA wrestling champion from Oklahoma State is making his debut in the Top 10 after defeating Carlos Condit at UFC 158 on March 16 in a thrilling three-round match. It was the sixth win in a row for Hendricks, during which time he has beaten elite fighters such as Condit, Martin Kampmann, Josh Koscheck, Jon Fitch, Mike Pierce and T.J. Waldburger.

Hendricks will have a chance to move up the rankings when he faces No. 3 Georges St-Pierre for the welterweight title sometime later this year.

With that, let's take a look at the current rankings:

1. Anderson Silva   Points: 228 (21 of 23 first-place votes)   Affiliation: UFC (middleweight champion)   Weight class: Middleweight   Record: 31-4   Last fight: TKO1 Stephan Bonnar, Oct. 13   Previous ranking: 1   Up next: Title fight vs. Chris Weidman

2. Jon Jones   Points: 201 (2 of 23 first-place votes)   Affiliation: UFC (light

Read More »from Rankings: Johny Hendricks bullies his way into Top 10 with win over Carlos Condit

The Yahoo! Sports Top 10 remained constant, with no changes in the rankings. However, given HBO's decision to no longer televise fights involving Golden Boy Promotions fighters, that makes a distinct split on where the fighters can be found on television in the U.S.

Floyd Mayweather, once again the poll's top-rated fighter, can be found exclusively now on Showtime's pay-per-view arm. Andre Ward, Sergio Martinez, Juan Manuel Marquez, Manny Pacquiao and Timothy Bradley are primarily HBO fighters. Wladimir Klitschko, Carl Froch and Vitali Klitschko aren't regulars on any network in the U.S., though Epix HD has picked up their most recent fights.

With that, here are the latest Yahoo! Sports boxing top 10 rankings:

1. Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Points: 297 (27 of 30 first-place votes)
Record: 43-0 (26 KOs)
Title: WBA super welterweight champion/WBC welterweight champion
Last outing: W12 over Miguel Cotto on May 5
Previous ranking: 1
Up next: Title defense vs. Robert Guerrero on May 4

Read More »from Boxing rankings: Tim Bradley's thrilling win over Ruslan Provodnikov yields little change