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Bradley Faces Off With Provodnikov

Published

11 years ago

February 6, 2013

Photo Credit : Chris Farina – Top Rank

Bradley Faces – CARSON, CALIF. (February 6, 2013) — Undefeated World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight champion and Top-10 pound for pound fighter TIMOTHY “Desert Storm” BRADLEY, JR. will make his 2013 debut, making his first title defense, against the No. 2-rated contender RUSLAN PROVODNIKOV, Saturday, March 16, under the stars at The Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif. Bradley vs. Provodnikov will be televised live as the main event on HBO World Championship Boxing, beginning at 10:15 p.m. ET/PT.

These two gladiators boast a near-perfect record of 51-1 (27 KOs).

Promoted by Top Rank®, in association with Banner Promotions and Tecate, tickets to the Bradley- Provodnikov world championship event will go on sale This Friday! February 8, at 10:00 a.m. PT. Priced at $200, $100, $50 and $25, tickets can be purchased online at AXS.com or by phone at 888-929-7849 as well as The Home Depot Center Box Office (open Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.). Suites are available by calling 1-877-604-8777. For information of group discounts, please call 1-877-234-8425.

” I am so happy and inspired to be fighting in the Los Angeles area in front of my home state fans,” said Bradley. “There is nothing more exhilarating than defending your title for the first time. March 16 will be the first step in doing what I did as the junior welterweight champion, cleaning house.”

“I want to thank my team and HBO for making this fight happen and giving me this long awaited opportunity,” said Provodnikov. “I promise that once everyone sees this fight no one will regret making it happen because once we are both in the ring I will fight until the end and the more Bradley will want to fight me the more exciting this fight will be for everyone!”

“We are excited to be able to showcase Tim. He is a tremendous talent,” said Todd duBoef, president of Top Rank. “Tim cleaned out the junior welterweight division as champion, beating everyone. We are confident that he will perpetuate that accomplishment as welterweight champion. It’s going to be an exciting night.”

“Ruslan understands that these opportunities do not come along often. He knows that this is a great chance for him and he will rise to the occasion and win the fight,” said Provodnikov’s promoter Arthur Pelullo of Banner Promotions.

“We are delighted to present Timothy Bradley Jr.’s first defense of his world welterweight title on March 16 at The Home Depot Center in southern California,” said Kery Davis, senior vice president, programming, HBO Sports. “An intriguing part of the fight is that it is as much of an opportunity for Bradley as his challenger Ruslan Provodnikov.”

Bradley (29-0, 12 KOs), from Palm Springs, Calif., a two-division world champion trained by Joel Diaz, returns to the ring off his historic and career-best victory over Manny Pacquiao last June 9, ending the defending WBO welterweight champion’s title reign and his seven-year winning streak. It was only the fourth professional loss Pacquiao had suffered in a 60-bout career that included world titles in eight different weight divisions. Bradley, 29, won his first world title in 2008, travelling across the pond to dethrone the defending WBC super lightweight champion Junior Witter in the Englishman’s backyard of Nottingham, England. Bradley’s sixth-round knockdown of Witter shocked the hometown crowd as Bradley won a hard-fought split decision. One year later, in his second championship defense, Bradley unified the title by dominating then-WBO champion Kendall Holt. In a career-defining fight, Bradley weathered a first-round knockdown, and showed his trademark heart and determination during the remainder of the match, to win a unanimous decision. Bradley opted to keep the WBO junior welterweight title. Bradley successfully defended that title twice. In August 2009 he dominated former world champion Nate Campbell before an accidental clash of heads near the end of round three led to the fight later being ruled no contest when Campbell could not continue due to a nasty gash over his left eye. Bradley followed that up with a December 2009 schooling of undefeated interim WBO champion Lamont Peterson, which included a third-round knockdown, the first time Peterson had ever hit the canvas in his 27-bout professional career. With no worthy contenders available to defend his title against, Bradley moved up to 147 pounds and won a 12-round unanimous decision over undefeated Top-10 welterweight contender Carlos Abregu on July 17, 2010. Bradley kicked off 2011 by reunifying the welterweight titles with a 10-round shellacking of undefeated WBC super light champion Devon Alexander in January, followed by an eighth-round knockout victory of former world champion Joel Casamayor in November, setting up his date with destiny — Pacquiao.

Provodnikov (22-1, 15 KOs), born and raised in Berezovo, Khanty-Mansi, Russia in Siberia, is trained by Hall of Famer World-Famous Freddie Roach. He has built up a steady fan base due to his exciting fights which have been televised nationally. Known for his aggressive style and excellent two-fisted punching power, Provodnikov, 29, is already more than prepared for his world title challenge inasmuch as he has been Pacquiao’s main sparring partner for the past 12 months. Provodnikov, whose professional resume boasts victories over former world champions Javier Jauregui and DeMarcus Corley, is riding a five-bout winning streak, with four of those victories coming by way of knockout. He captured the WBO Inter-Continental junior welterweight title via a sixth-round stoppage of David Torres, January 27, 2012, and successfully defended that title five months later on June 29, knocking out Jose Reynoso in the second round. Torres and Reynoso had a combined record of 37-5-3 when they fought Provodnikov.

For fight updates go to www.toprank.com, www.banner-promotions.com or www.hbo.com/boxing.

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The Sweet Science

Articles

2015 Fight of the Year – Francisco Vargas vs Takashi Miura

Published

8 years ago

January 4, 2016

The Sweet Science

The WBC World Super Featherweight title bout between Francisco Vargas and Takashi Miura came on one of the biggest boxing stages of 2015, as the bout served as the HBO pay-per-view’s co-main event on November 21st, in support of Miguel Cotto vs Saul Alvarez.

Miura entered the fight with a (29-2-2) record and he was making the fifth defense of his world title, while Vargas entered the fight with an undefeated mark of (22-0-1) in what was his first world title fight. Both men had a reputation for all-out fighting, with Miura especially earning high praise for his title defense in Mexico where he defeated Sergio Thompson in a fiercely contested battle.

The fight started out hotly contested, and the intensity never let up. Vargas seemed to win the first two rounds, but by the fourth round, Miura seemed to pull ahead, scoring a knock-down and fighting with a lot of confidence. After brawling the first four rounds, Miura appeared to settle into a more technical approach. Rounds 5 and 6 saw the pendulum swing back towards Vargas, as he withstood Miura’s rush to open the fifth round and the sixth round saw both men exchanging hard punches.

The big swinging continued, and though Vargas likely edged Miura in rounds 5 and 6, Vargas’ face was cut in at least two spots and Miura started to assert himself again in rounds 7 and 8. Miura was beginning to grow in confidence while it appeared that Vargas was beginning to slow down, and Miura appeared to hurt Vargas at the end of the 8th round.

Vargas turned the tide again at the start of the ninth round, scoring a knock down with an uppercut and a straight right hand that took Miura’s legs and sent him to the canvas. Purely on instinct, Miura got back up and continued to fight, but Vargas was landing frequently and with force. Referee Tony Weeks stepped in to stop the fight at the halfway point of round 9 as Miura was sustaining a barrage of punches.

Miura still had a minute and a half to survive if he was going to get out of the round, and it was clear that he was not going to stop fighting.

A back and forth battle of wills between two world championship level fighters, Takashi Miura versus “El Bandido” Vargas wins the 2015 Fight of the Year.

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Articles

Jan 9 in Germany – Feigenbutz and De Carolis To Settle Score

Published

8 years ago

January 4, 2016

The Sweet Science

This coming Saturday, January 9th, the stage is set at the Baden Arena in Offenburg, Germany for a re-match between Vincent Feigenbutz and Giovanni De Carolis. The highly anticipated re-match is set to air on SAT.1 in Germany, and Feigenbutz will once again be defending his GBU and interim WBA World titles at Super Middleweight.

The first meeting between the two was less than three months ago, on October 17th and that meeting saw Feigenbutz controversially edge De Carolis on the judge’s cards by scores of (115-113, 114-113 and 115-113). De Carolis scored a flash knock down in the opening round, and he appeared to outbox Feigenbutz in the early going, but the 20 year old German champion came on in the later rounds.

The first bout is described as one of the most crowd-pleasing bouts of the year in Germany, and De Carolis and many observers felt that the Italian had done enough to win.

De Carolis told German language website RAN.DE that he was more prepared for the re-match, and that due to the arrogance Feigenbutz displayed in the aftermath of the first fight, he was confident that he had won over some of the audience. Though De Carolis fell short of predicting victory, he promised a re-vamped strategy tailored to what he has learned about Feigenbutz, whom he termed immature and inexperienced.

The stage is set for Feigenbutz vs De Carolis 2, this Saturday January 9th in Offenburg, Germany. If you can get to the live event do it, if not you have SAT.1 in Germany airing the fights, and The Boxing Channel right back here for full results.

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Articles

2015 Knock Out of the Year – Saul Alvarez KO’s James Kirkland

Published

8 years ago

December 29, 2015

The Sweet Science

On May 9th of 2015, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez delivered a resonant knock-out of James Kirkland on HBO that wins the 2015 KO of the Year.

The knock-out itself came in the third round, after slightly more than two minutes of action. The end came when Alvarez delivered a single, big right hand that caught Kirkland on the jaw and left him flat on his back after spinning to the canvas.Alvarez was clearly the big star heading into the fight. The fight was telecast by HBO for free just one week after the controversial and disappointing Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao fight, and Alvarez was under pressure to deliver the type of finish that people were going to talk about. Kirkland was happy to oblige Alvarez, taking it right to Alvarez from the start. Kirkland’s aggression saw him appear to land blows that troubled the young Mexican in the early going. Alvarez played good defense, and he floored Kirkland in the first round, displaying his power and his technique in knocking down an aggressive opponent.

However, Kirkland kept coming at Alvarez and the fight entered the third round with both men working hard and the feeling that the fight would not go the distance. Kirkland continued to move forward, keeping “Canelo” against the ropes and scoring points with a barrage of punches while looking for an opening.

At around the two minute mark, Alvarez landed an uppercut that sent Kirkland to the canvas again. Kirkland got up, but it was clear that he did not have his legs under him. Kirkland was going to try to survive the round, but Alvarez had an opportunity to close out the fight. The question was would he take it?

Alvarez closed in on Kirkland, putting his opponent’s back to the ropes. Kirkland was hurt, but he was still dangerous, pawing with punches and loading up for one big shot.

But it was the big shot “Canelo” threw that ended the night. Kirkland never saw it coming, as he was loading up with a huge right hand of his own. The right Alvarez threw cracked Kirkland in the jaw, and his eyes went blank. His big right hand whizzed harmlessly over the head of a ducking Alvarez, providing the momentum for the spin that left Kirkland prone on the canvas.

Saul “Canelo” Alvarez went on to defeat Miguel Cotto in his second fight of 2015 and he is clearly one of boxing’s biggest stars heading into 2016. On May 9th Alvarez added another reel to his highlight film when he knocked out James Kirkland with the 2015 “Knock Out of the Year”.

Photo by naoki fukuda

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