Alvarado-Provodnikov - Post-Fight Report

By Adam Canavan @adam_canavan

Provodnikov pummels Alvarado.

Ruslan 'The Siberian Rocky' Provodnikov improved his record to 23(16)-2 after a devastating display against 'Mile High' Mike Alvarado, now 34(23)-2(2), after Alvarado retired on his stool in the 10th round.

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. 

Bradley-Marquez - One legend ends his path as another starts to pave his way!

By Jack Price @PriceyJ97 - @BoxingOpinions1

Timothy Bradley was fighting with something to prove on Saturday night. The 30-year old wanted to show the boxing world that he belongs at the very top with the very best fighters. Despite being a 2-weight world champion and holding wins over some of the best fighters in the sport, the hard-working American never got the recognition he feels he deserves from the fans. To gain that respect and recognition he had to beat Mexican legend Juan Manuel Marquez.

Garcia dominates in bizarre circumstances!

By Jack price @PriceyJ97. 

I think it's fair to say that nobody was expecting what happened in the ring between Orlando Salido and Mikey Garcia at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas last night (January 19th). We were all expecting a close competitive fight between two evenly-matched boxers, but what we got was a one-sided victory from the man that had never really been tested. That's right, 25-year old Mikey Garcia dominated and out-classed ring veteran Orlando Salido to win the WBA featherweight championship of the world.

Right from the off it was clear that Garcia meant business. Salido found himself down twice in the first round. They weren't damaging shots coming from Garcia, but they were fast, sharp and they were definitely troubling Salido. This trend continued for the next few rounds with Salido going down twice more and never really getting into the fight. The 32-year old grew more and more frustrated as he found himself in a position he had never been in before. Salido has been hurt, troubled and beaten on many occasions but he's never had it where he just can't get to a guy. Every time he put the pressure on he was either spun or just made to miss.

Unfortunately the fight ended in chaotic circumstances at the end of the 8th round after an accidental headbutt from Salido broke Garcia's nose. Thankfully, and rightfully, the fight went to the judges scorecards and Garcia was announced as the winner. 

Abraham becomes two-weight world champ!



Abraham (centre) with the WBO super-middlweight title. 



'Amazing!' That is the only word I can use to sum up this fight. Maybe the intensity and the excitement of the event was just increased because it had been so long since any of us boxing fans had seen a world class televised fight. But anyway, you're not here to hear me ramble on about how excited I am that the boxing season has started again. You're here to read about what actually happened in the highly anticipated super-middleweight fight between Arthur Abraham and Robert Stieglitz.

I think the reason that this fight was as good as it was, is because both men wanted it so bad. It was a crossroads fight and both of them had something to prove. I think it's fair to say that going into this fight we were thinking that if Abraham didn't win then his career as a world-class fighter was over. On the other hand, we all also knew that Stieglitz was desperate to be victorious because he had to prove that he belonged with the top-level fighters at super-middleweight.

It was clear from the beginning that Abraham was not fighting with the same game-plan that he usually does. For anyone who has seen the German-based Armenian fight before, you will know that he usually just lasts through the first half of the fight without really throwing any punches and then from around the 6th or 7th round onwards he tries to wear his opponent down until they give up. But this time things were different. The 32-year old came out strong and fast and clearly won the first round. This was a sign that he knew that this was potentially his last chance at proving he was a force to be reckoned with at super-middleweight. Howeveer, Stieglitz was not just going to lay down and let Abraham walk away with the opportunity. The German-based Russian came back strong and threw more punches in the next few rounds than Abraham probably did in the whole fight. He even hurt the usually iron-jawed Abraham on occasions. When it got to the eighth round, I had it scored even and there were just no clues as to who was going to win. Abraham had just won the last round but he was looking very tired, whereas Stieglitz had blood pouring from his right eye and a bruise above his left but was still looking fresh when he threw his punches. The next four rounds were once again very close, except for the last round which Stieglitz clearly won.

At the end of the fight I had it scored 115-114 to Abraham but I could have easily had it the other way round. The judges scorecards were 116-112, 116-112 & 115-113, all in favour of Abraham. There was no arguments about the winner, I just think the scorecards were slightly wide.

One thing I did notice on Twitter after the fight is how many people were now fans of Stieglitz even though he lost th fight. A lot of people had not really seen much of him before and even though he lost, he still showed a lot of heart and courage and also proved that he can compete with some top-class fighters at the weight.

Abraham is now in the best position he has been in since moving up to super-middleweight. He is now a two-weight world champion and back up there with the top-level fighters. Whilst I don't think there's much chance of him beating the likes of Andre Ward and Carl Froch, there's still a lot big fights out there for him.

Haye comes back with a bang!

Last night (July 14th), the highly anticipated grudge match between David Haye and Dereck Chisora took place at Upton Park. 


When the fighters were making the way to the ring, for each fighter, it was the complete opposite reaction. Chisora was first to face the crowd and was welcomed with loud boo's from a very hostile crowd. There were a few cheers for the 28-year old but I think he relished being the villain. When Haye entered the arena, the crowd came alive and loud roar circulated the whole place. All that was left now was for Michael Buffer to send chills down the spine of every fan watching in the stadium and at home by saying those trademark words... "LET'S GET READY TO RRRRUUUUUMMMMMBBBBBLLLLEEEEEEEE!!!"

And that was it, all the trash-talking, hyping showing off was behind them. All that was left to do now was the two men to have it out in the ring and prove that they were the one who was correct in their pre-fight predictions.

When the first bell rang, both fighters came out fast and just tried to work each other out. Haye got the better of the first few minutes and probably did enough to take the first round. From the start of the second to around halfway through the fourth round, Chisora started to bring himself back into the fight and looked as though he was tiring Haye out. He repeatedly pinned him to the ropes and just pummelled away at his body with his clubbing hooks. At first, this was looking to be effective and Haye looked a little wobbly at the end of the third round. But, at the start of the fifth round, the momentum switched again. Haye started landing some solid shots and they actually were affecting Chisora's usually "solid" chin. About two minutes into the round, Chisora went down from a quick barrage of punches. He managed to rise to his feet but he still looked a little wobbly, and there was still quite a bit of time left in the round. Haye came forward very strong once again and Chisora was sent crashing to the canvas for a second time. He still managed to climb back to his feet but this time the referee decided that he was not fit to continue.

That was it! David Haye had stopped Dereck Chisora and proved that he was back with a vengeance. 'The Hayemaker had done something that Robert Helenius and even Vitali Klitschko could not do.

The amount of screams and cheers that came from the crowd at this point were unreal! Nearly everyone in the crowd was there to support Haye and they had just witnessed exactly what they wanted to see. David Haye knocking Dereck Chisora out.

Both fighters were very respectful after the fight. Chisora was graceful in defeat, and Haye was graceful in his victory. Despite everything that has happened between the two fighters, they still hugged and shook hand after the fight. I actually think that even though he lost, this fight gained Chisora a lot of respect from quite a lot of fans.

The big question is now... What next for the two fighters?

Personally, I think that Haye will go back into retirement for a short period of time. If he doesn't get a fight with a Klitschko, and it's likely that he won't... Then there's not really anyone else out there for him. A rematch with Chisora would be good, but I think it would be much better in a few years time, when Chisora has had a bit more experience, which is the main thing he needs, and when Haye is maybe at the twilight of his career.

Despite losing three fights in a row, Chisora still has a lot of big fights ahead of him. First, he needs to take a few fights against European and domestic level fighters, just so that he can rack up a few victories and build up his confidence. People seem to overlook the fact that Chisora is actually a pretty decent fighter. He has only had 17 fights as an amateur and has only had 19 as a pro. He may have lost four, but they have all been against world class opponents, and the Helenius loss was a robbery in my opinion. He needs to fight some opponents of his level and class so he can show his full potential and then he will definitely be ready for world level. Haye said it himself... "Chisora is a definite future heavyweight world champion."

No matter what the critics say, this was a fantastic night for British boxing and boxing all around the world. It got people talking about the sport once again. It was great to see boxing back in the news and on the papers, and also to see casual boxing fans talking about boxing more than football, rugby or tennis. In my opinion, boxing has been brought back to life!

Brook taken to a place he has never been before!

Undefeated British welterweight Kell Brook fought last night (June 7th) and extended his perfect record to 28-0. However, it wasn't as easy as some people expected it to be. Jones put up a hell of a fight and made it the toughest test of Brook's entire career.

Brook started well and easily won the first four or five rounds but then things started to change. The tactics that were ineffective for Jones at the start of the fight, were starting to work and bring the American back into the fight. In the first few rounds, it was Brook's physical strength and superior boxing skills that were keeping Jones at bay, but the spite that Brook desperately wanted to prove he had, may have just worked against him in the middle rounds. 'The Special One' started to get involved in a war and this style of fight suited Jones.

The hard-punching American continued to move forward and at one point, Brook looked a little dazed and wobbly. It was revealed that after the 8th round that Brook was suffering from a broken nose. It was clear that this was effecting Brook has he was breathing heavily and not throwing his punches with the same aggression that he was at the beginning. 

Brook managed to last the final few rounds and even stood toe-to-toe with Jones in the last minute or so of the fight. The judges scorecards at the end were 114-114, 116-113, 115-113. The last two were fair, but I still don't know how the first judge managed to score the fight a draw. Jones had a few good rounds, but Brook was in control for the majority of the fight.

'The Special One' proved a lot of things in this fight, but also left a lot of questions. We are still wondering if he is ready to step up in class and fight world beaters, but he did prove to all of his doubters that he has a tremendous amount of heart and almost a pretty strong chin.

On the under-card of the fantastic show set up by Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn, there were no surprises. Gavin Rees scored a 9th round KO over Derry Matthews in their highly anticipated rematch for the European lightweight title. And in the other great rematch, Proksa won back his European middleweight title by knocking out Kerry Hope in the 8th round.