The rowdy chants of “3-0-3” in support of Denver’s Mike Alvarado in his first hometown fight in more than two years sounded something like a call to arms.
A commanding 10-round unanimous decision Saturday night over Mexican veteran Gabriel Martinez — in which Alvarado bloodied his opponent but went the distance for just the third time in his past 13 fights — leaves lingering questions for the undefeated junior welterweight.
Who will he fight next? And is a title shot near?
Alvarado (31-0, 22 knockouts) seems to have verified his worth among contenders. He has spotlight victories over Ray Narh (on the Manny Pacquiao-Shane Mosley undercard), Emmanuel Clottey (a KO-of-the-year candidate in 2009), former lightweight champ Cesar Bazan and former title challenger Michael Clark.
“I’m right there,” Alvarado said. “I’ve proved myself. I’ll fight anybody. Whatever it takes. The best needs to fight the best.”
After turning 31 last week, the time seems right for the former two-time prep wrestling champion from Skyview High School. Alvarado has stopped four of his past five opponents before they got to the fifth round.
“It’s been less impact on my body,” Alvarado said. “A lot of guys go through those tough fights and they get older with a lot of wear and tear. But I’m fresh.”
But, excluding the active bout against Martinez outdoors in North Denver on Saturday, it has left him needing more action.
So Alvarado and his camp will begin training in Los Angeles, said his manager, Henry Delgado. They trained for a week there last month, in preparation for Martinez, at the Maywood Boxing Club under the eye of well-known coach Rudy Hernandez.
“We’re trying to put Colorado on the boxing map,” Delgado said. “But it’s just that one week opened our eyes up. We have to make the best decisions for him, whether he likes it or not.”
Finding a trove of quality sparring partners is what drove Alvarado’s crew to want to return to L.A., Delgado said.
Last week, Alvarado became a kind of cult hero after he rejected the WBC’s Continental Americas title. It was a minor belt, but one that should have helped propel him to a title shot.
Instead, Alvarado pointed out, he continued to drop in the WBC’s rankings despite his continued winning. In its place, he added the minor IBF Latino title by beating Martinez.
“If we’d have kept that (WBC) belt,” Alvarado said Saturday, “we’d have kept dropping out of the top 20. Forget it. They weren’t helping. So we let that go and picked up a bigger, better belt. The IBF is in our corner.”
Alvarado said he’s ready for the next step.
“Let’s get back to the drawing board. The sky’s the limit.”
Nick Groke: 303-954-1015 or ngroke@denverpost.com
