By Chris Williams: Manny Pacquiao has been HBO’s top fighter when it comes to fights that turn into all-out brawls for the past five years. However, nothing lasts forever and with Pacquiao about to turn 35, he clearly can’t go on forever in the sport. The end is likely near for him, and fans will to look elsewhere for a Manny replacement for a fighter that likes to brawl.
One fighter that could take over for Pacquiao as HBO’s new darling is Russian Ruslan Provodnikov (23-2, 16 KO’s). He’s powerful with great boxing skills, defensively sound, and he’s got the same slugging style that Pacquiao has. Indeed, I think Provodnikov is actually more exciting to watch than Pacquiao because he doesn’t back away nearly as much as Pacquiao does.
Provodnikov goes after his opponents and stays on top of them. In contrast, Pacquiao jumps in to land shots and then he backs away quickly. Provodnikov might the more television-friendly fighter than Pacquiao, and that’s definitely a good thing because he’s going to need to be in order to take over as HBO’s new slugger.
At 29, Provodnikov is probably looking at a 3-6 year window where he’ll be able to keep fighting before his skills diminish to the point where he’ll no longer be a factor in the division. He’s obviously going to have problems making the jump to being a pay-per-view fighter unless he can get a big name like Pacquiao to fight him.
If Top Rank promoter Bob Arum would let Provodnikov fight Pacquiao, then he’ll move much quicker into being a PPV star. If not, then it might take a while for Provodnikov to become that kind of fighter because he doesn’t have a ready-made fan base to fall back onto in the United States like some fighters do. If Provodnikov is going to become a huge star, he’s going to need either help from Arum by being matched against Pacquiao or he’ll need to slowly work his way to that point by beating one guy after another in exciting fights on HBO.
Even then, Provodnikov will need help because he needs to fight guys like Tim Bradley, Brandon Rios, Mike Alvarado and Juan Manuel Marquez. If Arum doesn’t want to let Provodnikov fight Pacquiao, which is understandable given how Pacquiao has looked lately, then he’ll need to fight the rest of Arum’s Top Rank stable. If he clears out Arum’s entire barn of fighters, we’ll then see Provodnikov taking over Manny’s reign as the top guy on HBO.
Provodnikov vs. Pacquiao would be the perfect fight for early next year, if Pacquiao doesn’t get beaten by Rios on November 23rd. We could see the passing of the torch in the Pacquiao-Provodnikov with Provodnikov beating Pacquiao and taking over for him as HBO’s top guy.
Ring Magazine just elevated Provodnikov to #2 in their 140 lb. rankings on Monday, pushing him ahead of Amir Khan at #3 and Mike Alvarado at #4. Provodnikov now trails just #1 Lucas Matthysse and the Ring champion Danny Garcia. It’s doubtful that we’ll see Provodnikov facing either of those guys if he continues to fight Top Rank guys, but it’s possible but not likely.
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