By Chris Williams: Top Rank promoter Bob Arum is looking to match former WBC lightweight champion Antonio DeMarco against WBO light welterweight champion Ruslan Provodnikov (23-2, 16 KO’s) for his next fight on June 14th on HBO. According to Dan Rafael of ESPN, HBO isn’t entirely excited at the idea of televising a fight between Provodnikov and the recently knocked out DeMarco. HBO wants to see Provodnikov fight the winner of the Karim Mayfield vs. Thomas Dulorme, which takes place next month on March 29th. Mayfield probably wins that fight.
Not sure why HBO doesn’t want to televise the fight, but it could be that they feel that boxing fans will still remember the image of DeMarco getting stopped by Adrien Broner in late 2012. That was less than a year and half ago that Broner destroyed DeMarco, and that might be too soon to have DeMarco getting a world title shot.
The other idea that Arum and Provodnikov’s promoter Artie Pulullo is interested in doing is having unbeaten but untested Chris Algieri (19-0, 8 KOs) challenge Provodnikov for his title. HBO is reportedly not too excited about that fight either. It could be that they’ve noticed that Algieri isn’t ranked in the top 15 by any of the sanctioning bodies and he’s never fought any notable opposition. Algieri did beat Emmanuel Taylor on Friday Night Fights earlier this month, but there’s a big difference in fighting someone like Taylor and fighting a quality light welterweight like Lucas Matthysse.
“Arum and I want DeMarco or even Joe DeGuardia’s guy, Algieri,” Pelullo told ESPN writer Dan Rafael. “But HBO wants us to wait for the winner of the Thomas Dulorme-Karim Mayfield fight and we don’t want to wait another month. Besides, what happens if the guy who wins that fight gets injured or cut? We want to make a fight now and get it done as soon as possible so we can go out and sell the fight, get a site and really promote it. But we’re trying to work things out with HBO.”
HBO seems to have the better idea with having Provodnikov fight the winner of the Dulorme-Mayfield fight. The winner of that fight brings the better opponent than having Algieri or DeMarco fighting for a world title. It depends on what you’re looking for, I guess. If the idea is to give Provodnikov and easy fight where he won’t get out-boxed and made to look silly, then it’s a good idea to put him in with Algieri or DeMarco because those guys are made to order for him. But if you want to see a competitive fight where Provodnikov could end up getting out-boxed and beaten, then put him in with Mayfield and watch him likely get beaten. I’d rather see a competitive fight than a mismatch, so I’m in favor of HBO’s idea of having Provodnikov fight the winner of the Dulorme-Mayfield fight.
DeMarco would have been a good opponent for Provodnikov if he hadn’t been so badly beaten by Broner, and if he had at least beaten some good opposition after that loss. DeMarco hasn’t done that. Since his loss to Broner, DeMarco has beaten journeyman Fidel Monterrosa Munoz by a 5th round stoppage and Jesus Gurrola by a 2nd round TKO. Those aren’t quality light welterweights, and DeMarco definitely doesn’t deserve a title shot against Provodnikov off of wins over those guys.
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