Ruslan Provodnikov has presented his championship belt elderly citizen of Japan

 

40 members of the press in agreement that Ruslan Provodnikov was winning at time of stoppage, writes Bobby Hunter

ROCKY lives, well the Siberian one anyway as Ruslan Provodnikov won the WBO light-welterweight title in ten rounds by stopping hometown favourite Mike Alvarado at the 1stBank Centre in Denver, Colorado. This fight was not between the two biggest names in boxing but the old saying of “Styles Make Fights” is what prompted HBO in the USA and Sky Sports in the UK to show this fight live on TV. Swelled by a massive loud crowd of 7012, this Pro Alvarado support expected their man to continue his winning ways especially after he beat Brandon Rios in his last fight back in March. 

At the weigh-in the day before there was a bit of drama as Alvarado came in 1lb over the 140lb limit. The champion was then given two hours to loss the excess. A while later Alvarado made the contracted weight by coming in at 139.75lbs, the same as Provodnikov.

Round one started and the blueprint for the fight was set as Provodnikov came straight at Alvarado trying to take him out with every hook he threw. Alvarado calmly tried to box under the huge pressure, just like he did when defeating Rios. Provdnikov had won the round though but over the next four Alvarado boxed well catching Provdnikov as he came in using right and left uppercuts to mark the Russians face. Provodnikov stepped up his pressure in the sixth, he was moving faster and closing down Alvarado. A left hook stunned the champion in this round but worse was to follow in the eighth when another huge left hook by Provodnikov followed by a barrage of hook to the body and had floored Alvarado. The champion was given every chance by referee Tony Weeks and finally got up just before the count of 10. The Russian was straight on the attack and floored the champion again. The fight looked like it would be stopped but to his credit Alvarado fought back, probably winning the last part of the round.

The end wasn\’t far away and in the 10th Alvarado was repeatedly hurt, he had slowed down from around the sixth with many commenting on the social network channels that making the weight could have been a factor in the champions downfall. Tony Weeks on request of the Alvarado corner was asked to view their fighter as the 10th ended. After a few questions and Alvarado looking the worse for wear Weeks signalled the bout was over fuelling wild celebrations from the Provodnikov corner.

Judges Robert Hoyle, Levi Martinez and Dennis Nelson were not needed in the end but had this fight 98-90, 97-90 and 96-92 all to Provodnikov respectively.

Alvarado made $1.3million for this fight, Provodnikov $600,000.

Below is the punch starts for this fight along with this writers scorecard. I have also been able to collect (40) Press Scores and have compiled a Press Score Average. 

PUNCH STATS

Provodnikov – Thrown 404, Landed 299, Connection Rate 42 per cent

Alvarado – Thrown 299, Landed 137, Connection Rate 46 per cent

AVERAGE PRESS SCORE

PROVODNIKOV 97-91 ALVARADO

40 Scores for Provodnikov

0 Scores for Alvarado

0 Scores for a Draw

BOBBY HUNTER\’S SCORECARD 

Round 1…. 10-9 Provodnikov

Round 2…. 9-10 Alvarado

Round 3…. 10-9 Provodnikov

Round 4…. 9-10 Alvarado

Round 5…. 9-10 Alvarado

Round 6…. 10-9 Provodnikov

Round 7…. 10-9 Provodnikov

Round 8…. 10-7 Provodnikov (two knockdowns scored by Provodnikov)

Round 9…. 10-9 Provodnikov

Round 10.. 10-9 Provodnikov

TOTAL : 97-91 PROVODNIKOV

RUSLAN PROVODNIKOV WINS BY TKO END OF 10TH ROUND

PRESS SCORES

Wolfgang Schiffbauer (Sturm Promotions) : 97-91 Provodnikov

ESPN.com : 96-92 Provodnikov

Mark Ortega (Ring Magazine) : 97-92 Provodnikov

Phil D Jay (WorldBoxngNews) : 97-91 Provodnikov

Cliff Roid (BoxingScene) : 97-91 Provodnikov

Adam Abramowitz (SaturdayNightBoxing) : 97-91 Provodnikov

Victor M Salazar (ThaBoxingVoice) : 97-89 Provodnikov

Boxing Opinions : 96-93 Provodnikov

Lyle Fitzsimmons (BoxingScene) : 97-92 Provodnikov

George Jimmenez (Geo Imagez) : 96-92 Provodnikov

Jake Donovan (BoxingScene) : 97-91 Provodnikov

LeaveItInTheRing Radio : 97-90 Provodnikov

Ben Thompson (Fighthype) : 96-92 Provodnikov

Ryan Burton (TheBoxingLab) : 97-92 Provodnikov

Brian Campbell (ESPN) : 96-92 Provodnikov

Mike Coppinger (USA Today) : 98-90 Provodnikov

Darren Velasco (FightDomain) : 98-90 Provodnikov

Chris Morris (Fightnews) : 97-91 Provodnikov

Alex Morris (BoxingAsylum) : 97-91 Provodnikov

Martin Perry (SplitDecisionBoxing) : 97-91 Provodnikov

Corey Quincy (BLBoxing) : 98-90 Provodnikov

Allaboutboxing  : 96-92 Provodnikov

Steve Zemach (TheQueensberryRules) : 97-91 Provodnikov

Billy Ferguson (UKFighthype) : 97-91 Provodnikov

Kevin McCrae (BleacherReport) : 97-91 Provodnikov

Ramon Aranda (3MoreRounds) : 97-91 Provodnikov

John J Raspanti (Doghouseboxing) : 97-90 Provodnikov

The Boxing Tribune : 97-91 Provodnikov

Glen McCrory (Sky Sports TV) : 97-92 Provodnikov

Nick Halling (Sky Sports TV) : 97-92 Provodnikov

John Evans (Livefight) : 96-91 Provodnikov

John Wharton (Brit Box Magazine) : 97-91 Provodnikov

Tom Gray (Ring Magazine) : 96-92 Provodnikov

FirstClassBoxing : 96-92 Provodnikov

Shaun Brown (Livefight) : 95-93 Provodnikov

Rachel Aylett (BoxingNews24) : 97-91 Provodnikov

Paul Daley (Topclassboxing) : 95-93 Provodnikov

Kurt Ward (BoxingAsylum) : 97-91 Provodnikov

Andy Paterson (BoxingAsylum) : 97-91 Provodnikov

Luis Sandoval (TheBoxingLab) : 97-91 Provodnikov