Russian fighter Ruslan Provodnikov stunned hometown favorite Mike Alvarado with two eighth-round knockdowns, then continued the onslaught and won the fight when Alvarado’s corner stopped it at the end of the 10th round at the sold-out 1STBank Center in Denver on Saturday.
Provodnikov punished the Denver native with crushing body shots mixed in with powerful right and left hooks to the head to win the WBO light welterweight title, the first of his pro career..
“I knew I could break him,” Provodnikov, nicknamed “The Siberian Rocky”, said through a translator.”I don’t care about the titles. It’s all about the war today. I had to break his will and I did that.”
Provodnikov (23-2, 16 KOs), coming off a brutal loss to Tim Bradley, came out swinging in the first round and outworked the champion. Then in the last three or four rounds, heconcentrated on body shots against Alvarado (34-2, 23 KOs), who was making the first defense of his title.
“I came out today, and I had the support of my mother (watching her son fight as a professional for the first time), all my relatives, all my loved ones, they’re all here. I had to win for them,” he said.
This was the Denver area’s first world championship fight featuring a local fighter since September 15, 2000, when former WBC lightweight champion Stevie Johnston unsuccessfully challenged defending WBC lightweight champion Jose Luis Castillo, via majority draw, at Pepsi Center.
After beating Brandon Rios in March to avenge his only career loss, Alvarado, 32, was hoping to continue his rise in the junior welterweight ranks.
But Provodnikov, 29, who lost by decision to welterweight champion Timothy Bradley Jr. in a sizzling contest last March, foiled those plans by putting Alvarado on the canvas for the first times in his career.
