Ruslan Provodnikov - A beast has been unleashed!

By Jack Price @PriceyJ97

A boxing beast may have been born earlier this year on March 16th when Ruslan Provodnikov entered the ring with WBO welterweight world champion Timothy Bradley and dished out the performance of his career. Or maybe the beast had been alive and ready for years just waiting for the opportunity to feed. 

What next for 'Mile High' Mike?

By Jack Price @PriceyJ97.

'Mile High' Mike Alvarado avenged the only loss of his career last night with a career-best performance that earned him a unanimous decision victory over the highly-rated former world champion Brandon 'Bam Bam' Rios. It was an emphatic and impressive victory that could have risen Alvarado's stock massively. The 32-year old is now the interim WBO light-welterweight champion and finds himself in a great position right in the middle of the most competitive weight division in boxing right now.

So seeing as the victory is still fresh in our minds, let's weigh up the options for the Denver-native. Could he become one of the sport's unexpected superstars?

Well I don't see why not. Just look at guys at 140lb right now who could all be potential opponents for Alvardo in the near future:

Brandon Rios Vs Mike Alvarado - Post-Fight Report

@PriceyJ97.

Fighter Of The Week: Mike Alvarado

This week we have chosen Mike Alvarado as our 

fighters of the week...

The tough 32-year old avenged the only loss of his career by putting on a career-best performance beating the highly-rated Brandon Rios by unanimous decision. Alvarado was stopped in the 7th round in their first meeting and looked to be hurt again in the 2nd round of this one. But he proved his physical and mental strength by coming back strong and out-boxing Rios. For the majority of the fight Alvarado was even beating Rios at his own game, out-working the former world champ on the inside. 

Alvarado is now the interim WBO light-welterweight champion and finds himself in a great position right in the middle of the most competitive weight division in boxing today. There's so many big fights out there for the Denver-native right now so expect to see him in action again soon. Could we see him turn into one of the sport's unexpected superstars?

Brandon Rios Vs Mike Alvarado II - Fight Preview

By Jack Price @PriceyJ97.

Boxing fans are in for a treat this weekend as we get to see the 2012 ‘Fight Of The Year’ once again. That’s right, Brandon Rios and Mike Alvarado will go head-to-head in an all-out war for our enjoyment once again on March 30^th at the Mandalay Bay Casino in Las Vegas. Rios won the first fight via TKO in the 7^th round, but he did not have it all his own way. Alvarado had a lot of success in the early rounds and proved that technically he is the better boxer which makes this instant rematch a legitimate and mouth-watering fight for the fans.

The impressive win back in October means that Rios (31-0, 23 KO’s) remains undefeated with yet another decent name on his victim list. The 26-year old slugger has wins over the likes Alvarado, Miguel Acosta, John Murray and a controversial split decision victory over WBA lightweight world champion Richard Abril. His ruthless pressure and aggression allowed him to almost walk through Alvarado (33-1, 23 KO’s) from around the 5^th round onwards but he has shown in the past that he can be out-boxed, meaning there is still hope for Alvarado in this rematch.

Brandon Rios Vs Mike Alvarado II - Fight Preview & Prediction

@PriceyJ97

Boxing fans are in for a treat this weekend as we get to see 2012's 'Fight Of The Year' once again. That's right, Brandon Rios and Mike Alvarado are stepping into the ring to do war once again! Many people believe that Rios has an even bigger advantage going into this one after the beating he dished out in the 7th round of their last encounter before the referee stopped the fight. Take a look at the video above to see how I think this fight will go. 

What could be the real dawning of the 140lb division?

By Jack Sumner @ Jack_Sumner_

http://southpawjacks.wordpress.com/

A couple of years ago, many boxing fans and analysts were proclaiming the light welterweight division as the best in the sport. The quartet of Amir Khan, Timothy Bradley, Devon Alexander and Marcos Maidana headed the pack at 140lbs with mouth-watering unification bouts on offer and the possibility of thrilling match ups between any of the protagonists. However, not everything is always as it seems. 

Khan and Maidana did thrill in their December 2010 clash that scooped fight of the year honours and after surviving a late onslaught, Khan emerged victorious to set up a clash with the winner of Bradley-Alexander a month later. The fight between the unbeaten young Americans was billed as the ‘Perfect Match Up’ with some comparing the magnitude of the event to Hagler-Hearns, but it was an anticlimax and ultimately an ugly spectacle, with Bradley winning via tenth-round technical decision after Alexander claimed lack of vision following a clash of heads. 

Bradley remained undefeated however and on course for a huge summer date with Khan to unify WBO, WBC and WBA titles. But as often is the case in this sport, the fight didn’t materialise. Bradley was stripped of his WBC strap for refusing to fight Khan and eventually moved up to welterweight to defeat Manny Pacquiao, a result that remarkably halted progress in his career due to its controversial and widely contested scoring. Khan meanwhile would go on to lose back-to-back fights against Lamont Peterson and Danny Garcia, whilst Alexander and Maidana would eventually have an uninspiring clash at welterweight over ten rounds.

The hype at that time failed to deliver. Early in 2013, the buzz around the light welterweight division has now returned.

Bob Arum discusses Rios-Alvarado and Rios-Garcia

@thaboxingvoice

Top Rank promoter Bob Arum discusses the possibility of the mouth-watering match-up between Brandon Rios and Danny Garcia. He also looks forward to Rios' next fight on March 30th, a rematch against Mike Alvarado. 

Danny Garcia says he'll fight anyone! Talks Rios, Judah, Khan.

www.hustleboss.com

Unified light-welterweight champion Danny Garcia believes that he has at least a few more fights left in him at light-welterweight. In this video he talks about "rival" Brandon Rios and next opponent Zab Judah (February 9th). 

Gamboa and Top Rank starting to solve problems...

Gamboa, Arum & Rios posing for the fight that never happened.

It looks as though that the shaky relationship between Top Rank and former featherweight world champion Yuriorkis Gamboa is starting to run a little more smoothly.

Back in March, Top Rank filed a federal lawsuit against Gamboa. The reason for this was that Gamboa was scheduled to fight Brandon Rios on April 14th but failed to show up at the press conferences and then refused to go ahead with the fight. As a result of this, Rios was forced to defend his title against Cuban lightweight Richard Abril. Top Rank were annoyed and shocked at the actions of Gamboa and felt that they had to use him as an example and made him face full consequences.

At various points over the last few months, Gamboa was seen in the company of Floyd Mayweather Jr, 50 Cent and other members of the 'Money Team.' On the day of the first press conference that Gamboa missed, the Cuban was seen training at Mayweather's gym.

But now it seems that Gamboa and Top Rank are starting to patch things up. According to Top Rank CEO Bob Arum, Gamboa will be ringside at the MGM Grand Arena on June 9th to watch Manny Pacquiao take on Timothy Bradley for the WBO welterweight title.

Arum also explained that Gamboa made the right decision to return to Top Rank.

"I think he realises that those people are full of sh*t... Mayweather, 50 Cent and all those people. They are going to have to pay damages," threatened Arum.

Donaire and Rios double-header set for June 30th!

Nonito Donaire                                                   Brandon Rios

WBO super-bantamweight champion Nonito Donaire will now be fighting on June 30th against IBF champion Jeffry Mathebula at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. Former WBA lightweight champion Brandon Rios will also be on the card against an opponent that has not yet been confirmed.

Donaire (28-1, 18 KO's) was originally set to fight against Cristian Mijares on July 14th on the same card as Juan Manuel Marquez but it looks very likely that the show will no longer be taking place. The pound-for-pound contender won the super-bantamweight title against Wilfredo Vazquez Jr back in February of last year. It was a tough fight for Donaire but it enabled him to show off his class and superior boxing skills.

Rios was very lucky to get the decision against Abril.

Rios (30-0-1) disappointed a lot of people in his last fight and as a result has lost a lot of value in the boxing world. He was easily out-boxed over 12 rounds against Cuban lightweight Richard Abril but shockingly he was announced as the winner by majority decision. There was no way you could even argue that Rios even came close to winning the fight and many people protested against the decision. Rios was lined up for a July 14th showdown with Marquez but after his poor performance it would be foolish even to put him in the ring with Marquez.

Donaire's opponent Jeffry Mathebula (26-3-2, 14 KO's) is a big step down in class and it is a bit of a surprise that Bob Arum did not try and match him with a more known opponent. Many people think that Arum is just trying to prolong Donaire's run as champion for as long as possible and make as much money out of him as possible until he is forced to face one of the more dangerous fighters in the division.

This fight will most likely be 'Bam Bam' Rios' first fight at light-welterweight as it has been clear in his last two fights that he just simply cannot make the weight for the lightweight division anymore.

The Donaire-Mathebula fight will headline the show and Rios' fight will be chief support. Overall, it's another good show to look forward to in the next few months.

Abril remains interim champ!

Cuban lightweight Richard Abril will remain as the WBA interim champion as everybody involved in the WBA believe he was robbed in his fight with Brandon Rios.

There was a unanimous vote to keep Abril (17-3-1) as the interim champ with the main reasons being the dodgy scoring in Las Vegas and Rios' weight problems. 11 officials reviewed the fight and all of them came to the conclusion that Abril should have been announced as the winner in the world title fight on April 14th.

Everybody who saw the fight knew Rios had lost and you could see the shock on everyone's face (even some of Rios' entourage) when the decision was given to 'Bam Bam'. Even the commentators were lost for words. Everyone I have talked to since the fight are annoyed that this sort of thing keeps happening in the world of boxing. I have watched the fight over and over again and I cannot see how it can be scored to Rios. My initial scores were 117-111 to Abril. I was expecting it to maybe be a bit closer as Rios was the main attraction and the crowd was on his side, but I could could not believe it when they announced him as the winner.

Many people, including Abril himself think that he deserves a rematch with Rios and he has already said that he will move up in weight to fight him. However, he is going to be on a long waiting list as now every lightweight in the world will be wanting to fight him after seeing that performance.

Abril is willing to fight Rios again...

I guess you've all heard by now about the fight between Richard Abril and Brandon Rios. If you haven't, all you need to know is that Abril out-boxed Rios throughout the whole fight and won almost every round on most people's scorecards. But, Rios was the bigger name fighter and the home town favourite so two out of the three judges decided to give the decision to him. This caused uproar amongst the fans and the rest of the boxing world as they believed that Abril had been robbed of the WBA title.

The 29-year old Cuban is still very annoyed about the whole thing and has told  World Boxing News that he is still hoping to retain his interim WBA championship. He may then decide to move up to 140lb if an opportunity arises.

"We are still waiting for the rankings from the WBA, but I am confident I will be given a shot at the vacant title," said Abril.

"As soon as the first judge gave Rios the decision, I knew I had lost the fight and all the talk of holding after the bout was his team trying to justify the boxing clinic that I gave him... I am more than willing to move up to 140lb  and give Rios another schooling but I doubt Rios would accept the fight."

When he was asked whether he would like to fight the likes of Yuriorkis Gamboa or Sergio Thompson for the vacant belt, Abril answered: "I will fight King Kong if I have to. It doesn't matter who they offer me."

"If the opportunity came up to fight Juan Manuel Marquez,I would willingly move up to light-welterweight, not for any personal reasons against him.. Just as it would be an honour to share the ring with him," said  Abril.

A rematch between Abril and Rios is very unlikely to happen as I cannot see Rios and his team accepting that fight. The match that we have the most chance of seeing is probably Abril Vs Gamboa for the vacant belt. What a great fight that would be...

Marquez Vs Rios? Winner will fight Pacquiao?

Brandon Rios                                       Juan Manuel Marquez

On April 14th Juan Manuel Marquez and Brandon Rios are set to 
co-headline a HBO PPV event. Marquez will face Serhiy Fedchenko and 
Rios will be facing last minute step-in Richard Abril. The fight will 
take place in Las Vegas. Whilst both of these fights are relatively big, Top Rank are planning to stage two more fights leading from this 
show that are a lot bigger. 

There have been a lot of rumours recently that Marquez and Rios will 
meet in the ring at Cowboys Stadium in Texas providing they both win 
their fights in April. Bob Arum has repeatedly said that he wants this 
fight to happen but some people believe it is just a way to sell the underwhelming PPV on April 14th. 

Marquez giving Pacquiao more than he can handle.

Anyway, if the fight does happen, then fight fans all around the world will be extremely lucky as the winner could get a chance to fight Manny Pacquiao later this year.

Marquez will almost certainly jump at the chance to fight Pacquiao as 
he has been talking about it for a very long time and whilst this fight 
isn't Rios' main target, I'm sure he would also jump at the chance to step 
in the ring with somebody as great and as well-known as Manny Pacquiao. 

Of course, this fight can only happen if Pacquiao manages to beat 
Timothy Bradley on June 9th. If he doesn't, he will surely want to 
fight Bradley in a rematch in November. 

Many believe that if Marquez and Rios do meet in the squared circle it will be the fight of the year, and we all know how the fights between Marquez and Pacquiao go (non-stop action all the way through), and 
let's not forget Rios. Any fight that involves him will definitely be 
entertaining. 

So to sum it all up... As long as Marquez and Rios win their fights on April 14th, we will all be treated with two amazing fights later this 
year.

Marquez set to fight Pacquiao and Gesta!

Juan Manuel Marquez (right) with promoter Fernando Beltran (left).

Juan Manuel Marquez's promoter Fernando Beltran has said that his 
fighter will be boxing Manny Pacquiao and Mercito Gesta in the near 
future. 

He announced the fights at a press conference for Marquez's fight on 
April 14th against Serhiy Fedchenko. 

“Juan Manuel will fight Fedchenko en April, then on July 14 against 
Mercito Gesta at Cowboys Stadium, and in November the fourth fight with 
Pacquiao,” said Beltran.
 

Beltran is thought to have been the key figure in getting Marquez his 
third fight with Pacquiao last year and the 'Pacman' has already 
announced that he wants to fight Marquez for a fourth time before he 
retires. So the fight will almost definitely happen as long as there 
are no problems. 

Although the two fighters want the bout to happen, the fans most likely 
do not. As a fight between Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr seems much 
more appealing, but this is a good back up fight if negotiations 
between Pacquiao and Mayweather are not successful. 

There have also been rumours about a potential fight between Marquez and Brandon Rios, who is also fighting on April 14th. Now, this is a 
fight that the fans would certainly like to see. When we announced on Twitter that there could be a chance of a fight between Marquez and 
Rios, the response was amazing, with many people predicting it would be 
the 'fight of the year'. 

Bob Arum from Top Rank Promotions who represent Pacquiao and Gesta was 
not available for comment.

Juan Manuel Marquez Vs Brandon Rios... July 14th!

Rios (left) , Marquez (right).

The fight is not 100% yet but I'd say it's almost definite to happen seeing as everyone wants it to happen. That's right, we could be seeing one of the greatest lightweight match-ups in recent years which many people are already saying is a certain 'Fight Of The Year'.

Boxing fans were very disappointed when the highly anticipated clash between Rios and Yuriorkis Gamboa was cancelled due to Gamboa backing out of the fight; but now they have been given something that will most likely prove to be even better.

It has been reported that Top Rank are already in talks with Dallas Cowboys officials about having the boxing match at Cowboys Stadium.
There is already another bout planned for the July 14th event which consists of Nonito Donaire Vs Cristian Mijares which will likely be slid into the co-headline slot with the Rios and Marquez bout if it is arranged.

Bob Arum has said that he wants the fight and it's almost definite as long as Marquez and Rios win their fights on April 14th, which should not prove too hard as many people believe that both of their opponents are not on their level.

Top Rank Sues Yuriorkis Gamboa... And More!

As we all know from reports last week, Top Rank is suing Yuriorkis Gamboa for breach of contract. The main reason being that he didn't turn up to the press conferences for his fight with Brandon Rios who will now be fighting Richard Abril instead of Gamboa.

If you thought Top Rank were just going to make an example of Gamboa by just suing him, you were wrong, they're not just going to stop there. It looks like they could be suing up to 10 other people who were rumored to be involved with the whole ordeal. According to reports, these are people who are associated with promotional companies that apparently tried to poach Gamboa.

Gamboa seen training at Mayweather's gym.

These people have not yet been named but going by rumors and common sense I think most people will be able to guess who a few of them are. Even Oscar De La Hoya at Golden Boy has been accused. The reason for this being his big announcement on Twitter that we were all waiting for just to find out that he had been sober for 10 months. Maybe he was about to announce that he had poached Gamboa but thought better of it and stayed out of trouble.

Most people think that it is Mayweather Promotions who are guilty. Gamboa was seen training at Mayweather's gym whilst he was meant to be at the press conferences for his fight with Rios. So this is a big lump of evidence that would point towards Mayweather Promotions so they will definitely have some explaining to do.

Top Rank's reason for suing is that they believe if Gamboa was left unpunished it would damage their reputation and make other fighters believe that they can do the same whenever they want. They will likely try to drag out the case for a while to try and punish Yuriorkis Gamboa with legal fees.

Rios to face Abril instead of Gamboa!

On April 14th Brandon Rios will now face Richard Abril. Rios was set to participate in a highly anticipated bout between himself and Yuriorkis Gamboa but Gamboa shockingly withdrew from the fight and is now likely to be sued by Top Rank.

Rios' opponent Richard Abril.

Gamboa is in serious danger of ending up in a tremendously bad financial spot seeing as he doesn't have a very big fan-base which means he won't get much support and the money Top Rank will try and claim will almost definitely be very big!

Going back to the fight... Abril (17-2-1) will in no way shape or form make up for the absence of Gamboa but he will likely make it an entertaining bout and he always 'comes to fight.'

 Despite his big decision win over Miguel Acosta, Abril is still not a Top 10 lightweight and Rios' fans have specifically said that after his 5 wins in a row they want to see their fighter in the ring with a 'next step' opponent.

Refunds are available but I doubt that they will be many people asking for one. After all a fight is a fight and it's not like it will be a walk-over win for Rios.

Well... Richard Abril definitely won't see it that way.

Tim Bradley discusses Rios, Alvarado & Marquez

Tim Bradley at Rios-Alvarado post-fight press conference

EsNewsReporting.com