By CARLOS ARIAS

INGLEWOOD, CALIF. --- Top Rank CEO Bob Arum sees plenty of opportunities for Mike Alvarado even though he lost to Juan Manuel Marquez on Saturday nigh at The Forum.

Alvarado got knocked down in the eighth round, but he picked himself up off the canvas and dropped Marquez in the ninth round. The rest of the fight was extremely competitive and featured numerous exchanges. Marquez ended up with a unanimous decision on the judges scorecards.

"Mike has got the guts of a lion," Arum said. "He never quits. He stayed in there and he hurt Marquez pretty good, but Marquez is Marquez. Marquez is a great fighter.

"Marquez is a great, great fighter, and Mike fought a terrific fight," Arum said. "They both gave a great account of themselves. Marquez clearly won the fight. I thought he put on one of his great performances and Mike didn't embarrass himself. Everybody would want to see Mike with Rios again. Everybody would want to see how Mike did with Bradley. So there are plenty of good fights for Mike out there."

Alvarado has lost three of his past four fights, but Arum doesn't believe that will hurt him in the eyes of the public.

"It's not a question of winning or losing," Arum said. "It's about how they fight. If they fight well and the public like sthe way they fight, the fact that they lose doesn't mean anything. We've learned that from two ways. That's the way boxing was conducted years ago and secondly the UFC has again taught us that. That it's not a question of if a guy loses or how many times he loses, it's a question of how he fights. There are a lot of fights out there for him, like Rios and like Rick [Reeno] mentioned - a fight with Victor Postol."

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