Ruslan Provodnikov first made his name known to the masses when he lost to Timothy Bradley on HBO in March by unanimous decision. Despite coming out on the losing end to the undefeated "Desert Storm," he knocked Bradley down several times, and had him out on his feet for long stretches of time.
Provodnikov proved that night that while he may never be a masterful tactician, he would certainly provide fireworks and entertaining fights. He lived up to that billing this past weekend when he took on Mike Alvarado in Alvarado's hometown of Denver.
Alvarado had come off a win against Brandon Rios in his last bout, a matchup in which he used his boxing skills to pull off a close victory. Provodnikov didn't allow Alvarado to follow that blueprint this past Saturday.
Instead, Provodnikov forced him into a slugfest, and the "Siberian Rocky" emerged victorious from the battle of wills. His powerful fists earned a TKO win, Alvarado's WBO light welterweight belt and a potential big money pay-per-view fight in the future.
The names Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. have been bandied about, which seems like a major jump up in class. A fight with Pacquiao is extremely unlikely because of trainer conflicts.
Both men are good friends and have sparred together in the past. Furthermore, they share a trainer in Freddie Roach, who would be put in the uncomfortable position of training one of his fighters to bludgeon another.
"They are good friends and I don't think they will fight," Roach said. Top Rank CEO Bob Arum, however, seemed intrigued by the possibility, simply saying "Why not?"
Another possible opponent could be Floyd Mayweather Jr., who is searching for a viable opponent after his domination of Canelo Alvarez. Showtime executive Stephen Espinoza has said that large, powerful boxers have proven ineffective against "Money," and that the key to beating him might be hand speed.
However, the likely opponent, Amir Khan, has a questionable resume and at the moment Provodnikov's pure brawling may generate higher public interest.
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