BRADLEY VS. PROVODNIKOV: CHOOSING THE NEXT PACMAN FOE
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Mon, 06 Jan 2014
The choice for the next opponent for Manny Pacquiao this coming April 12, 2014 is narrowed down to the two fighters who faced in what is now the frontrunner as Fight of the Year 2013. It's either Timothy Bradley or Ruslan Provodnikov.
?The two guys that are the front runners are Tim Bradley and Ruslan Provodnikov,? Bob Arum was quoted by Eastside Boxing. There was no mention of Floyd Mayweather, Jr. and Juan Manuel Marquez. The two boxers kept evading Pacquiao whose confidence was boosted with the recent triumph over Brandon Rios.
Bradley won a close unanimous decision to Provodnikov on March 16, 2013 for the WBO world welterweight championship. Provodnikov is Pacquiao's sparring partner and Bradley needed to win convincingly to erase the stigma of his controversial win against the Filipino boxing icon. But the Siberian Rocky proved to be a deadly opponent for Bradley.
The Desert Storm stormed on the challenger in the early rounds, but the Russian staggered him with powerful punches which dazed the champion. Referee Pat Russell failed to score a knockdown of Bradley in the first round, where he hit the canvas after receving punches from Provodnikov.
The American titlist recovered in the succeeding middle rounds but the Siberian challenger just could not be easily worn out. Bradley fought painstakingly piling up more punches which landed on Provodnikov's body and head. However the Beryozovo-born Russian fought aggressively and charged like a fuming bull amidst the flurry bombarded by undefeated California fighter.
In what could be the Round of the Year, the twelfth round, when everything seemed to be in the bag for the champion who coasted along to protect his lead, Provodnikov delivered the punches which sent Bradley on his knee. The seconds were dying as the referee started his count on the stunned champ. As he got up the bell sounded ending the epic battle of twelve prodigious rounds. The Russian challenger raised his arms in satisfaction much like a winner. Bradley has gained enough points in the third to fifth and the seventh to eleventh round to win a very close 115-112, 115-112,114-113 unanimous decision.
Provodnikov demanded an immediate rematch but promoter Bob Arum instead arranged a WBO lightwelterweight championship against Mike Alvarado. Moving back down to the lighter weight category, Provodnikov defeated Mike Alvarado by a 10th round stoppage to win the WBO crown on October 19, 2013 at the FirstBank Center in Denver, Colorado. The Russian was ahead on all three judges' scorecards and floored Alvarado twice in the eighth round, when Alvarado did not continue for the eleventh round.
Bradley on the other hand won another contested split decision, this time against Marquez on October 12, 2013. But most of the boxig experts felt this time Bradley had won. He was quoted by Ryan Maqui?ana of The Guardian boasting that he belonged to the top three in the world. "You have to consider me top three in the world now," he said. "There's [Floyd] Mayweather, there's Andre Ward, and there's Tim Bradley, baby." The latest Ring pound-for-pound ranking could attest to that.
A Pacquiao-Bradley rematch would be the most ideal fight. Pacquiao could recoup himself of that hurting split decision loss which the WBO refuted later. A win over the undefeated Bradley would be another confidence builder for Pacquiao's road to redemption. Bradley is the third best boxer in the world per Ring ratings while Provodnikov did not land among the top ten. Pacman has a score to settle with the Desert Storm.
As coach Nacho Beristain described Bradley after his win over Marquez: "Bradley is the only undefeated boxer with two losses."
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Maloney L. Samaco.
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