Bradley doing fine, will be at Rios-Alvarado fight

By Boxing News - 03/20/2013 - Comments

bradley12By Allan Fox: WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley (30-0, 12 KO’s) is doing fine after suffering a bad beating from Ruslan Provodnikov (22-2, 15 KO’s) last Saturday night in winning by a 12 round unanimous decision. Steve Kim is reporting that Bradley is well and will be attending the March 30th fight between light welterweights Mike Alvarado and Brandon Rios in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Bradley could end up fighting the winner of that bout. As for Provodnikov, it doesn’t look like Bradley is going to give him a second chance by giving him a rematch. Bradley moves on and will face one of his promoter’s fighters unless the World Boxing Organization or the Nevada State Athletic Commission orders an immediate rematch due to Provodnikov’s promoters making an appeal.

That’s probably a long shot at best because the Commission and WBO aren’t going to second guess the referee Pat Russell, who was the one that chose not to score knockdowns in the 1st, 2nd and 6th rounds when Bradley was knocked against the ropes and prevented from falling down.

Bradley wants to fight twice more in 2013 to make up for lost time after having fought only once in 2012. The possible opponents for Bradley’s fight, besides the Rios-Alvarado winner, are Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez.

As for Provodnikov, he could factor in the equation in facing Rios or Alvarado, but likely he’ll end up getting the loser of that fight instead of the winner. It’s doubtful that Top Rank promoter Bob Arum will want to risk putting Rios in with Provodnikov because Arum wants to keep Rios unbeaten for as long as possible and he already has a questionable victory over Richard Abril last year in fight that Rios is damn lucky he won.

Having Provodnikov face him could put Rios in another situation where he fails to shine and ends up winning in less than impressive fashion.

Bradley seemed punch drunk after the fight with Provodnikov, and you always worry about how a fighter like that is going to be in his next bout. Ideally, you’d like Bradley to take it easy for a while after a fight like that just in case. However, Bradley plans on getting back in the ring very soon, and hopefully he doesn’t get hurt in his next fight.



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