Interim WBO light welterweight champion Mike Alvarado (34-1, 23 KO’s) was in a cocky mood today giving his potential next opponent Ruslan Provodnikov (22-2, 15 KO’s) a dire prediction in the future if the two of them face each other.
Alvarado had this to say on his twitter:
It’s difficult to picture Alvarado doing anything more than winning a close decision over Provodnikov. Alvarado doesn’t seem to have the skin or the chin to stand in there and trade for 12 rounds without swelling up badly or getting knocked out. We just saw Alvarado barely beat Brandon Rios in a rematch last March and that was with Alvarado moving most of the fight.
Alvarado won by a narrow 12 round unanimous decision, but he likely would have lost if Rios had sense enough to keep throwing his jab like he had early in the fight when he staggered Alvarado. For some reason, Rios stopped jabbing and he just followed a pattern each round where he would plod forward slowly, looking to land one big shot instead of jabbing and throwing combinations.
Provodnikov was beaten in his last fight against WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley in a close 12 round unanimous decision loss last March. Provodnikov could have won that fight had he been better at cutting off the ring in the middle rounds when Bradley was circling the ring and jabbing him. Provodnikov still fought well for his limited talent and was able to hurt Bradley a number of time, and knock him down in the 12th.
Alvarado should be able to win this fight by outworking Provodnikov, but he can’t afford to stand in there and trade with him because if he does that, he’ll surely swell up and maybe get rocked by a right hand and stopped. Alvarado’s chin is too shaky to stand in there with a puncher like Provodnikov and it’ll be bad for him if he tries to do that against the hard hitting Russian.