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Roger Gutierrez and Rene Alvarado are ready to run it back, mere miles from their previous meeting.
BoxingScene.com has learned that a rubber match is in store for the pair of junior lightweights, who will collide August 14 at Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, Texas. The bout comes just seven months after their fiercely contested rematch, where Venezuela’s Gutierrez earned a narrow unanimous decision victory to claim a secondary version of the WBA junior lightweight title at American Airlines Center in Dallas.
As was the case in their previous meeting, the bout will air live on DAZN as a chief support. Headlining the August 14 show, local hero Vergil Ortiz Jr. (17-0, 17KOs) faces Lithuania’s two-time Olympian and former welterweight title challenger Egidijus Kavaliauskas (22-1-1, 18KOs).
Gutierrez (25-3-1, 20KOs) will make the first defense of his recently acquired 130-pound title. The 26-year-old from Maracaibo, Venezuela rode three knockdowns all the way to the finish line, edging Nicaragua’s Alvarado by scores of 113-112 on all three official cards. A knockdown in the 12th and final round proved to be the difference in their twelve-round thriller this past January 2, which came in support of Ryan Garcia’s off-the-canvas seventh-round knockout of Luke Campbell in their WBC interim lightweight title fight.
Alvarado (32-9, 21KOs) showed heart in making it that far, as he was nearly knocked out after twice hitting the deck in round three. The 32-year-oid Managua, Nicaragua native managed to punch his way back into the fight, opening a cut inside the left eyelid of Gutierrez in round six only for his activity level to significantly decrease in the second half the fight.
It ultimately cost him the title, coming in his first defense more than a year after a November 2019 stoppage win over Andrew Cancio. Alvarado battered Cancio into submission after seven lopsided rounds, emphatically avenging a stoppage loss from December 2015.
Gutierrez was the one who gained revenge in this sequel, having previously suffered a one-sided seventh-round technical knockout to Alvarado in July 2017. He is 10-2 since that fight, including a current six-fight win streak that also saw Gutierrez resurrect his career with a stunning first-round knockout of unbeaten contender Eduardo ‘Rocky’ Hernandez in July 2019.
Ortiz-Kavaliauskas was formally announced Tuesday, confirming a previous BoxingScene.com report. The August 14 show will mark the first for Golden Boy Promotions on the other side of the upcoming Tokyo Olympics.
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox