A deal is close to being finalized for Mike Alvarado to face Ruslan Provodnikov in a clash for the WBO’s junior welterweight belt on Oct. 19, Top Rank CEO Bob Arum informed RingTV.com on Tuesday.

“That’s correct,” said Arum, who handles Alvarado. “We’re negotiating with Alvarado now.”

Promoted by Artie Pelullo of Banner Promotions, Provodnikov (22-2, 15 knockouts) is coming off a unanimous decision loss in March to WBO welterweight beltholder Tim Bradley, whom Provodnikov dropped in the 12th round.

Alvarado (34-1, 23 KOs) was last in the ring for a unanimous-decision win over Brandon Rios in March that avenged his seventh-round stoppage loss to Rios in October of last year.

“It looks like we’re going to be fighting Alvarado,” said Pelullo. “The date that HBO is tentatively talking about is Oct. 19. We have agreed to the Alvarado fight, and, I guess, they’re just waiting for Bob Arum to get Alvarado on board. The fight would take place in Denver. We’ve agreed to the fight, and I’ve made my deal with HBO and gone over everything.”

“Arum wants to do the fight, and now he’s working on getting his fighter on board. I believe that they want the fight as well, because we wouldn’t have gone this far down the road. I think that it would be the biggest fight of the year, because Alvarado and Ruslan both don’t know how to back up, so it’s going to be a fan-friendly fight, and a television-friendly fight. It’s going to be for the WBO junior welterweight title, and it’s good for both guys. It’s a great fight on Oct. 19.”

Photo by Chris Farina, Top Rank

Lem Satterfield can be reached at [email protected]