WBO light welterweight champion Mike "Mile High" Alvarado is looking beyond his fight tonight against number one contender Ruslan Provodnikov of Russia at the 1st BANk Center in Denver, Colorado by indicating that he wants to face former pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao in his next fight.
ESPN.com reports that Alvarado confessed his disappointment that Brandon Rios got the right to face Pacquiao in Macau this November. "I can't deny that when Rios got the fight against Pacquiao, I was really disappointed. I deserved that fight."
Alvarado says that after he beat Provodnikov, he is looking forward to finally being in the ring against the only man in history to win world titles in eight different weight classes. "Right now, Manny Pacquiao is a huge option. Like I said, the dream fight, the long-awaited huge payday. I've still got many fights left, and I'm a real champion," he told ESPN.
Interestingly, Alvarado was almost selected by Pacquiao's camp to face the Filipino boxing icon but was scratched because he perceived to be a bigger threat to the former pound for pound king than Rios. According to Philboxing.com, handlers of Pacquiao "felt Alvarado was a better boxer than Rios and was also heavy handed and it would have been a risk to take him on at this stage and opted for Rios instead because he appears tailor-made for Pacquiao with his come-forward style."
Before thinking of Pacquiao, Alvarado needs to first beat Provodnikov, considered by many to be the strongest boxer in the 140-pound weight class. The Russian, who used to be a sparring partner of Pacquiao, lost a controversial fight against unbeaten Timothy Bradley Jr. last April.
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