By Dan Ambrose: It looks like WBO light welterweight champion Ruslan Provodnikov (23-2, 16 KO’s) will be facing undefeated Chris Algieri (19-0, 8 KO’s) in his first defense of his WBO 140lb title on June 14th instead of someone more interesting like Brandon Rios. According to Dan Rafael of ESPN, Thomas Dulorme, Antonio DeMarco, and Hank Lundy were all ruled out as a possible opponent for Provodnikov. Algieri was the guy that was approved.
Provodnikov’s promoter Artie Pelullo of Banner Promotions, wasn’t impressed with Dulorme’s recent win over Karim Mayfield, said Rafael. Dulorme did a lot of holding in the fight en route to winning a 10 round unanimous decision.