By Dan Ambrose: WBO light welterweight champion Mike Alvarado (34-1, 23 KO’s) wants to box challenger Ruslan Provodnikov (22-2, 15 KO’s) this Saturday night rather than getting in the trenches to slug it out at the 1STBANK Center, Broomfield, Denver, Colorado, USA. Provodnikov says he won’t let the 33-year-old Alvarado box him. He’s going to force him to get in the trenches and go toe-to-toe with him whether he wants to or not.
Provodnikov believes that if he was able to get Tim Bradley to slug with him, then he’ll be able to cut off the ring against Alvarado to force him into a war.
Provodnikov said “I don’t think he’ll be able to box with me as well as he thinks. This will turn into a fight. If I can make Timothy Bradley fight me, I don’t think there is anyone that won’t end up fighting me.”
To get Bradley to fight him, Provodnikov had to cut off the ring to trap Bradley. Although Bradley says he intentionally chose to slug it out with Provodnikov, if you watch their fight, you’ll notice that Provodnikov walked through Bradley’s jabs and was able to get in close to make Bradley fight him.
Juan Manuel Marquez didn’t do that in his loss to Bradley last Saturday night. Marquez stayed on the outside for almost the entire fight until the 12th round. Provodnikov will likely do the same thing against Alvarado.
It’ll be a little tougher though for Provodnikov, because Alvarado punches a lot harder than Bradley, and he’s a much bigger fighter despite fighting in the light welterweight division rather than in the welterweight division where Bradley is at. But Alvarado’s chin is suspect, and that’s the one area where Provodnikov will have a big advantage.
Provodnikov takes a good shot and he’ll be in a good position to win this fight if he makes Alvarado go to war with him for 12 rounds. I don’t think the fight will go 1 rounds without one of them getting knocked out. If Alvarado stops Provodnikov, then it’ll likely be on cuts because he tends to swell up and cut easily around the eyes when he gets hit a lot.
Comments are closed.