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When I originally was notified that WBO Welterweight champion Timothy Bradley was set to face Ruslan Provodnikov, I was skeptical about the capabilities of Provodnikov against such a highly established, world class boxer.
I personally did expect that Provodnikov’s pressure would cause some early distress against a physically rusty Bradley, but surely not to the extent that actually took place last night at Home Depot in Carson, California.
Provodnikov started the fight with the determination of a champion, badly hurting and knocking down Bradley in round one. A ruling of “no knockdown” was announced but most observers reflected that was incorrect.
In round two, Bradley continued to be crushed by the Russian bruiser, who squared up with barbaric right-left hooks that nearly qualified a 10-8 round, even though there was no knockdown.
In the succeeding rounds, Provodnikov fell into the trap of Bradley’s superior skills, getting righteously outboxed until rounds seven and eight when Provodnikov boosted his pressure and came close to stopping Bradley again.
Provodnikov captured a couple of rounds more en route to a savage 12th round knockdown and near knockout of Bradley.
This was a sure fire Fight of the Year candidate. It would be dangerous for the damage that both men would be forced to endure but fans would love to see a rematch between these two warriors.
And one can be assured Russian scrapper Provodnikov (22-2 15 KO’s) has opened doors for many more world class opportunities in the grueling defeat to Bradley (30-0 12 KO’s).
At Welterweight he is demonstrating even more power and leverage behind his punches, leading him to be a dangerous foe for anyone.
On the undercard, powerful Nigerian Welter prospect Wale “Lucky Boy” Omotoso tested well-hyped Las Vegas based Jessie Vargas over 10 rounds in a battle of undefeated fighters.
Omotoso put Vargas down in round two and stunned him multiple times throughout, landing the flusher shots.
Omotoso (23-1 19 KO’s), nearly defeated Vargas (22-0 9 KO’s), but a heavier volume of punches was enough for the judges to score it to the Mexican American.
Also on the bill, Mexican based prospects, Heavyweight Andy Ruiz Jr (18-0 12 KO’s) and Super Bantam Jessie Magdaleno (14-0 10 KO’s), scored early round knockouts of opponents Matthew Greer (15-10 13 KO’s) and Jose Fulgencio (19-10-1 12 KO’s) to build even more steam on their prosperous careers in the squared circle.
Corey Quincy is a boxing writer at Saddoboxing, his personal site Blboxing.com and more. Follow him on Twitter at Quincyboxingfan, email him comments at Coreyg100@yahoo.com and like his Facebook page at Boxing Legends.
