Boxers often call their sport the fight game, but the waiting game might be more appropriate. After stepping up to a series of career-building fights since 2007, then nearly falling off the map over the past two years, Denver’s Mike Alvarado still is biding his time for a title shot.
For a 30-year-old fighter, his patience is rare. But it may pay off.
Alvarado on Saturday can raise his profile in the junior welterweight division in a high-exposure bout against Ghana’s Ray Narh in Las Vegas. They will open the Showtime pay-per-view undercard for the Manny Pacquiao-Shane Mosley mega- fight at the MGM Grand.
The bout pits two heavy-handed knockout seekers in what promoter Top Rank hopes will be a fight fan’s ideal matchup.
“Narh has a good knockout rating,” Alvarado said this week from Las Vegas. “But he’s never fought anybody as big and strong as me.”
With seven knockouts in his past eight fights, Narh (25-1, 21 KOs), a member of the 2000 Ghana Olympic team, has proven his activity in the ring, even if his opponents lack flash.
But Alvarado’s hefty right hand helped win his past three consecutive fights by knockout, with eight KOs in the past nine.
“I’ve fought guys who punch harder,” Alvarado said. “Our plan is to put the pressure on him, stick the jab in his face. Just chop the tree down.”
Alvarado (29-0, 21 knockouts) is one of three serious contenders at 140 pounds with an undefeated record, along with WBC and WBO champion Timothy Bradley (27-0) and young, untested Danny Garcia (20-0) of Philadelphia.
But Alvarado has fought in fewer than nine rounds the past two years — three knockouts over less-than-impressive opponents, including a fourth-round retirement of England’s Dean Harrison in February.
The Harrison bout was scheduled to be the first of two fights in quick succession, the back end being a nationally televised, co-main event against Vernon Paris in Puerto Rico. But a right biceps injury bumped Alvarado off the card.
He also spent two stints in prison in 2010 on probation violations, setting him off course.
“I’ve made choices in my life that had a big impact,” Alvarado said. “But I’ve learned better. And now I’m focused. Now I’m ready.”
Fortunes turned for Alvarado in April when Top Rank came to him to fill a late gap on its Pacquiao- Mosley card.
“We’ve never turned down anything Top Rank has put in front of us,” Henry Delgado, Alvarado’s manager, said. “I mean, what are we doing here? We’re here to fight the best. We’ll fight anybody. We don’t care who’s in front of us.”
Alvarado said he has eyes on big names, including Bradley, WBA champ Amir Khan (24-1) and contender Marcos Maidana (29-2) of Argentina. But Alvarado must wait for those fighters to surface.
“It’s about what’s in your heart,” Alvarado said. “I’m still fresh. It’s all about how bad you really want it.
“I know one thing about these next fights: Questions are gonna be answered.”
Fight night
Saturday’s four-bout card on Showtime pay-per-view from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, starting at 7 p.m.:
• Manny Pacquiao (52-3-2, 38 KOs) vs. Shane Mosley (46-6-1, 39 KOs), welterweights, 12 rounds, for Pacquiao’s title
• Kelly Pavlik (36-2, 32 KOs) vs. Alfonso Lopez (21-0, 16 KOs), super middleweights, 10 rounds
• Wilfredo Vazquez Jr. (20-0-1, 17 KOs) vs. Jorge Arce (56-6-2, 43 KOs), junior featherweights, 12 rounds, for Vazquez’s title
• Mike Alvarado (29-0, 21 KOs) vs. Ray Narh (25-1, 21 KOs), junior welterweights, 10 rounds
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AROUND TOWN
It’s all downhill from here.
The steep hill and sharp turns of Lookout Mountain Road in Golden make for a skateboarder’s dreamland. It’s dangerous and fast . . . especially fast.
It’s no wonder a throng of racers is expected there this weekend for the Buffalo Bill Downhill Race. The road will be closed Saturday and Sunday to allow for the race, with more than 120 boarders in line for the prize.
The 3-year-old race pits multiple boarders against one another on a closed track, trying to outlast the others and survive the hill for the finish line. Kevin Reimer of Vancouver, British Columbia, won last’s year’s race.
This year’s race includes a freeride on Saturday, from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Racing runs Sunday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Find more info and results at .
STAY ON THE COUCH
Coverage from paddock to track.
As Dusty Saunders pointed out in The Denver Post this week, NBC and sister cable network Versus will air 14 hours of Kentucky Derby coverage Saturday — for a centerpiece, two-minute race.
Of course, there are other high- stakes races at Churchill Downs this weekend, including purses in the multimillions of dollars.
But the $2 million Derby is the draw. And whether it’s the party atmosphere or an excuse to wear big hats, the Derby remains the most popular horse race in America.
Perhaps the coverage is justified. NBC, more than the other networks, loves its weepy, behind-the-scenes stories. As in the Olympics, we’ll see just how each horse, its owner and its trainer got to the Derby. Some of the stories are fascinating, like the one behind New Mexico-based Mine That Bird’s shocking victory in 2009.
The 137th running of the Kentucky Derby goes off sometime after 4:15 p.m. on NBC (KUSA-9), with coverage before and after on NBC and Versus.
GET OFF THE COUCH
Mother’s Day treat? Hot dogs.
Here’s an idea: How about breakfast with mom on Mother’s Day, with a menu of hot dogs and sodas? You’ve got it.
The Colorado Rockies Home Run for the Homeless, an annual casual 5K competitive race and casual run through lower downtown, will finish with a lap around the Coors Field warning track along the outfield fence.
Hot dogs, obviously, will be served. The race starts at 8:15 a.m. Find more information at .
WHAT WE’D LIKE TO SEE
Softball sluggin’.
The top two seeds moved on Thursday after the first round of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Softball Tournament, as No. 1 Metro State and No. 2 Western New Mexico won.
Julia Diehl and Molly Clark homered to lead the Roadrunners — the regular-season RMAC champions — to a 7-3 win over CU-Colorado Springs. Western New Mexico got by CSU-Pueblo 6-2. But third-seeded Colorado Mines fell to Adams State 5-2 in 13 innings.
Metro State, behind Jennessa Tesone, the all-time RMAC career home run leader with 56, remains the team to beat twice. The Roadrunners face Regis today in the double-elimination tournament.
The tournament concludes Saturday at Mines’ fields. Check for the bracket.
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