By Dan Ambrose: Ruslan Provodnikov (22-2, 15 KO’s) may have come up short last night in losing to WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley (30-0, 12 KO’s) by a 12 round unanimous decision, but Provodnikov revealed some major weaknesses in Bradley’s game that other fighters will be able to exploit in the near future.
Provodnikov showed that Bradley slaps with no power when he’s attempting to box. He doesn’t have any power at 147, and he just throws slapping shots. Bradley doesn’t have the power to knock anyone out at welterweight.
Most important of all, Provodnikov showed that you can take Bradley out of his game relatively easy by getting in his face and throwing punches. Bradley has too much heart for his own good, and he abandons his game plan. Provodnikov was able to do this to Bradley all night long.
Now you can say Bradley won the fight last night, but Provodnikov isn’t as good as the other welterweights in the division, so it’s not surprising Bradley got the win. They picked this guy out from the 140 pound division just so that Bradley would look good.
The fact that Bradley struggled with him and made Provodnikov look better than he actually is tells you a lot about Bradley’s limitations as a fighter at 147. He doesn’t belong in this weight class, he clearly doesn’t.
Bradley is not going to be able to beat Keith Thurman, and will likely lose to his promoter Bob Arum’s stable fighters Brandon Rios, Mike Alvarado or Manny Pacquiao once he’s been put in with them.
Arum is going to need to cash out with Bradley while he can because I don’t see Bradley lasting too much longer before getting beaten and beaten on a regular basis. He won’t beat Devon Alexander, Kell Brook, Keith Thurman, Mike Alvarado, Brandon Rios and he won’t get lucky again against Pacquiao.
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