On Saturday night, the Brandon Rios (30-0-1, 22 KOs) versus Mike Alvarado (33-0-0, 23 KOs) bout lived up to the hype. The two brawlers put on an all-action show for The Home Depot Center crowd and TV viewers watching on HBO.

Next up, on the same boxing card, it was Nonito Donaire (30-1, 19 KOs), giving a dominant performance and stopping Toshioka Nishioka (39-5-3) at 1:54 of the ninth round while defending his 122-pound title and getting his 29th straight victory.

At various times, onlookers booed this bout because the boxers had the gaul or was it the savvy to become more methodical, more intelligent in their approach. Both boxers showed more patience.

Nishioka threw just eight punches in round one, while Donaire waited for openings to develop. Donaire continued to force the action but with little success. Then in the sixth round, he cracked the code and landed a solid left uppercut. He followed it up with a straight right hand and another uppercut to put Nishioka down on the canvas.

Come the ninth round, Donaire put him down again with an overhand right. It appeared it was just a matter of time before referee Raul Caiz Sr. would end the bout. The closure came after Donaire landed another hard left uppercut. Realizing their fighter couldn’t compete with Donaire’s quickness, his combination of power and tactical skills, Nishioka’s corner showed their love for Nishioka and threw in the towel.

Attached is the video of the complete fight

The preceding bout featuring the brawlers it was two guys trading hundreds of big shots and ignoring any semblance of defense. The left side of Alvarado’s face began to swell, and the area around Rios’ eyes got puffy.

In both Round five and six, it was Alvarado, the Denver-based fighter, landing the majority of power shots.

In the seventh round, Rios, the closer to home Oxnard, CA favorite, abruptly landed this devastating overhand right to back Alvarado up against the ropes making it appear that he was almost defenseless. After taking several additional shots, referee Pat Russell called a halt to the match.

Assessing their performance: Rios demonstrated that he had more power behind his punches. He landed 33% of his 440 power punches, while Alvarado connected on 31%. Alvarado threw 238 more punches than Rios, 147 punches in the fifth round alone, but the winner connected on the larger majority of his punches.

So there you have it. Two different matches with basically the same result. You had the Asian pitcher’s duel and then you had the Latino slugger’s duel. In their own way, they were both very entertaining fights.

On the undercard:

Welterweight Jose Benavidez (16-0-0, 13 KOs) of Phoenix, Arizona defeated Pavel Miranda (17-7-1, 8 KOs) born and raised in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico, by unanimous decision in an eight rounder.

Featherweight Evgeny Gradovich (13-0-0, 7 KOs) of Arapahoe, North Carolina by way of Igrim, Russia won an eight round unanimous decision over the veteran Jose Angel Beranza (35-24-2, 27 KOs) of Mexico City, Mexico.

The lightweight bout between Jose Roman (14-0-0, 11 KOs) of Garden Grove, California and Javier Garcia (8-2-1, 7 KOs) of Oxnard, California ended in a draw, head butt injury near the end of Round #3 of a scheduled eight rounder.

Super bantamweight Vic Pasillas (2-0-0, 1 KO) of East Los Angeles, CA won a four round unanimous decision over Jazzma Hogue (2-2-1) of New Mexico.

Light heavyweight Trevor McCumby (6-0-0, 6 KOs) of Glendale, Arizona ko’d Eliseo Durazo (5-3-0, 2 KOs) of Agua Prieta, Sonora, Mexico at 1:40 of Round #1 of a scheduled four rounder.

The bout between Super featherweight Saul Rodriguez (6-0-0, 5 KOs) of Los Angeles, CA and Cesar Garcia (2-5-1, 1 KO) of Bell Gardens, CA ended in a technical draw in the second round.

Super middleweight Ronald Ellis (3-0-0, 3 KOs) of Miami, Florida won a four round unanimous decision over Katrell Straus (2-2-0, 1 KO) of Glendale, Colorado.