Mike Alvarado v Ruslan Provodnikov

It's not every fight that has fans really looking forward to it with anticipation of a sure-fire war but this weekend's WBO Light Welterweight title fight between Mike Alvarado (34-2, 23) and Ruslan Provodnikov (23-2, 16) was one such fight. It was two men who had styles made for each other, two men who had power and heart and two men who knew how to entertain fans.

Whilst many such fights can fall short of their mark I think it's fair to say that this lived to expectation and it seemed clear from the off that this wasn't going to just fall short.

The action kicked off in the way we expected. Provodnikov came forward, living up to the idea that he hasn't got a reverse gear and Alvarado showed off his superior boxing fighting Provodnikov off whilst fighting off the back foot. Alvarado certainly looked the better "boxer" but Provodnikov was having success and seemed to take the round with his harder clearer shots.

The fact Alvarado had lost the opening round saw him going to plan B. Boxing and moving. When Alvarado was fighting on the move he made Provodnikov look rather limited and in fact the movement looked like it was confusing the Russian who clearly lost rounds 2 and 3. Oddly it was whilst Alvarado was boxing on the move that a strange feeling seemed to come over the bout, "this might actually go the distance".

Alvarado's clear successes came to an end in round 4 as he began to get a little over-confident and almost seemed to fight Provodnikov's bout. This was a silly mistake though one that he likely thought could help break Provodnikov's confidence. If he could beat Provodnikov on the inside then where was Provodnikov going to go? Unfortunately, as mentioned, it backfired.

Alvarado returned to his moving tactics in round 5 as he tried to reestablish control of the bout, though unfortunately his output had dropped and the first 2 minutes or so were about Provodnikov who actually threw punches. Alvarado tried to steal in the final minute but it was too little too late as Provodnikov seemed to take a narrow lead. Thankfully for Alvarado his reestablished himself in round 6, which like round 5 had been close though he seemed to have just done enough to claim it as we moved in to the second half of the fight with a level, or near level score card.

The close nature of rounds 5 and 6 was again felt in round 7, a round that for 2 minutes 58 seconds was an even round. Unfortunately for the defending champion he lost the round in those final 2 seconds as he was shaken up, hard.

It wasn't so much that Alvarado had lost round 7 in the final 2 seconds that had proven to be a key, but that Provodnikov had hurt genuinely hurt him. It was less about the "10-9" on a piece of paper but more about the huge confidence boost Provodniov had had from the action at the bell, confidence that seemed to really boost him in round 8.

The eighth round by far the most crucial to the fight. Provodnikov grew from the previous round and hurt  Alvarado early in the round. Provodnikov landed a shot upstairs that hurt Alvarado then a body shot that seemed to really shake Alvarado up. A follow up attack sent Alvarado down for a 9 count and from then on it was Alvarado never looked the same man. He was dropped again later in the round then did all he could to survive through the final minute of the round.

By round 9 it looked like we were only going to have a new champion. Unfortunately Provodnikov was starting to look tired and he could capitalise on Alvarado who was still looking very leggy. Alvarado managed to avoid a fight, despite his legs looking tired, through out round 9 though he did lose the round by doing very little in terms of offensive work.

It was starting to look like Provodnikov had missed his chance to stop Alvarado though a huge assault at the end of round 10 forced the defending champions corner to act. They knew their man was spent, they knew he had struggled with weight and they knew that he needed saving before his career was thrown away chasing a lost cause. They refused, rightfully, to let their man out for round 11 conceding the title though saving what was left of their man.

Timothy Bradley v Ruslan Provodnikov

American Timothy Bradley (30-0-0-1, 12) made the first successful defense of his WBO Welterweight title as he outpointed the brave Russian challenger Ruslan Provodnikov (22-2, 15) in a bout that really had it all.

The fight started at a genuinely hectic pace as the two men stood next to each other and wailed away relentlessly at each other. For Provodnikov this served well as he appeared to hurt Bradley several times and even sent the champion to the canvas on one occasion, though referee Pat Russell called it a slip. The first 2 rounds could both be contenders for round of the year as Provodnikov rocked Bradley repeatedly with the champion firing back and showing his heart.

In round 3 Bradley finally started to show his skills as he boxed and moved against a very tired looking Provodnikov who only threw a handful of punches in the round after having thrown (and landed) a ridiculous number of power shots in the previous round. The challenger was visibly breathing through his mouth and Bradley was targeting the body to try and keep Provodnikov from having a second win.

After clearly winning round 3 Bradley continued to box through many of the middle rounds as he started to fight his way into the bout and take the lead with his superior boxing, speed and foot movement. In fact it was probably Bradley's movement more than anything else that allowed him to establish himself in the bout as Provodnikov struggled to land on when the champion was on his his toes and landing his jab.

Whilst Bradley boxed well through many of the middle rounds he did get dragged into a real war in round 6 that saw both men hurt and both men tagging the other repeatedly with everything they had. This was by far the best rest round in the middle portion of the fight for Provodnikov who appeared to really shake Bradley late on. In fact after the round Bradley's trainer threatened to pull his man out if he got hurt like that again.

The warning from Bradley's trainer seemed to settle Bradley's boxing down again as the champion showed his boxing and bagged the following round clearly as both men seemed to take a breather. Despite round 7 being a much quieter round than the previous one Provodnikov's face was starting to look a mess and Bradley started to target it opening up a nasty cut on the challengers eyebrow in round 9 that looked like it could threaten  an early finish to the bout.

With his face starting to mark up and the blood seeping from his eye, Provodnikov was forced to show that he deserved to be in the bout and that's exactly what he did in the final 3 rounds as he tagged Bradley hard to end the 10th then and started the 11th fast.

The final round saw Provodnikov having arguably his best round since the 6th as he set out with the intention of stopping Bradley and he seriously rocked him several times before forcing Bradley to a knee late in the round. Bradley took his chance to collect himself and survived to the bell before celebrating what appeared to be a hard fought but relatively clear victory.

Surprisingly the score cards were closer than many had imagined with Bradley claiming scores of 114-113 (twice) and 115-112 to take a unanimous decision and retain his title in one of the more memorable bouts of the year.