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Manager: Alvarado will KO Provodnikov

Fighters Network
24
Jul

The manager of Mike Alvarado said that he expects his fighter to earn “a seventh- or eighth-round knockout” should the junior welterweight accept the terms of a deal to face Ruslan Provodnikov, in a proposed Oct. 19 bout for the WBO belt.

Alvarado (34-1, 23 knockouts) was last in the ring for a unanimous decision win over Brandon Rios in March that avenged his seventh-round stoppage loss to Rios last year. Provodnikov (22-2, 15 KOs) is coming off a unanimous decision loss in March to WBO beltholder Tim Bradley, whom Provodnikov floored in the 12th round.

“As you can see, in his last fight, Mike showed that he was more than a slugger,” said Alvarado’s co-manager, Henry Delgado. “I think that in that last fight, where he banged it out at the beginning, and then, in the end, he picked his shots, he showed that he can do whatever he wants to do.”



Provodnikov agreed to face Alvarado two weeks ago. Although Alvarado still is at the bargaining table concerning the money being offered by Top Rank, Delgado characterized the negoations as being “85 percent done.”

Although Provodnikov never has been stopped, his other setback was in 2011 by unanimous decision against Mauricio Herrera, whom Alvarado decisioned prior to his two bouts with Rios.

“Mike’s got all of the tools, and it’s just a matter of what he decides to do,” said Delgado. “The problem is that he’s never made it easy for himself. I would say that that [the Provodnikov fight] is going to end in a seventh- or eighth-round knockout.”

Photos by Naoki Fukuda

Lem Satterfield can be reached at [email protected]

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