Rene Alvarado is relishing the opportunity for revenge.

Alvarado will face Roger Gutierrez for the third time on August 14 at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

The scheduled 12-round bout will serve as chief support to the secondary junior bantamweight title bout featuring Joshua Franco taking on Andrew Maloney, which also happens to be a trilogy contest. 

In their first contest that took place four years ago, Alvarado scored a seventh-round knockout of Gutierrez in a non-title bout contested at 130-pounds.

But their rematch on January 2 of this year went the opposite direction. The 26-year-old Gutierrez floored Alvarado three times, twice in the third again, and once more in the 12th, en route to a unanimous decision victory. The final knockdown turned out to be the difference on the scorecards, as all three judges scored the contest 113-112 for the Venezuelan.

“It was a very difficult, complicated fight, but that’s boxing,” Alvarado told The Ring through an interpreter. “All I can tell you about what happened is that you had two of the best guys in there, and it was his turn to win. 

“But I’m happy for the opportunity to fight Gutierrez for the third time, and I have the faith in God and the confidence in God that we’re going to recover this title for Nicaragua.”

The 32-year-old Alvarado (32-9, 21 KOs) also explained the difference between this training camp and the previous one.

“We have added multiple layers,” he added. “I’m working with guys who are movers, but I’m also working with fighters who come forward. “In addition, I’m also learning to deal with when a fighter ties you up in the clinch and learning how to deal with that. 

“That’s exactly what happened in the second fight. He didn’t allow me to fight comfortably because he was tying me up. But that’s a part of boxing, and we had to learn how to deal with that. I’ve been trying to learn that aspect and prove that aspect with my boxing, and I’m happy with the work that we’ve done in the ring.”

In boxing, it is generally true that when top fighters square off, someone is bound to get handed a loss. However, it is not that straightforward. There has to be something the other fighter did in training camp to gain an advantage on his adversary. So we asked Alvarado, what did Gutierrez do that caught them off guard in the second fight?

“He didn’t let us fight,” he explained. “Pretty much at every moment, he tied me up. With the style he had showed in previous fights, we didn’t expect him to come in doing that. It worked for him.

“But we have another opportunity, a new chance, and we have been working very hard in the gym. Everyone needs to work on something from their arsenal, and we found that aspect that we needed to work on.”

The 26-year-old Gutierrez (25-3-1, 20 KOs), who is riding a six-bout win streak dating back to November 2018, recently told The Ring that he expected their third encounter to be even more dominant in his favor. But Alvarado dismissed the comments and is fully focused on revenge.

“I’m just ready for this opportunity, and we’re going to take full advantage of it.”

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