This weekend American WBO Welterweight champion Timothy Bradley (29-0-0-1, 12) will look to make the first defense of his title as he faces the exciting to watch but limited Ruslan Provodnikov (22-1, 15). This will in fact be the first time either man has fought since June 2012, the month that Bradley claimed a controversial decision over Manny Pacquiao and Provodnikov beat Jose Reynoso in 2 rounds.
Although Bradley's result over Pacquiao was highly criticised the unbeaten "Desert Storm" is a genuine top 10 pound-for-pound fighter on his own merit. Aged 29 the tenacious California native has claimed the WBO Light Welterweight title, the WBC Light Welterweight title (twice)and the WBO Welterweight title. As well as hit title collection he has scored notable wins over Miguel Vazquez, Junior Witter, Kendall Holt, Lamont Peterson, Devon Alexander, Joel Casamayor and of course Pacquiao. A genuine who's who if we're being honest.
In terms of style Bradley is, as mentioned above, tenacious. He looks like he's been carved out of stone and is both physically and mentally strong. He's a fighter who does a number of very under-rated things, in fact his ability to slip punches, as he showed against Pacquiao (who landed a lot less than Jim Lampley thought) is almost forgotten. He likes to come forward and be in an opponents face (often causing head clashes) whilst throwing accurate and moderately fast punches for 12 rounds whilst using his feet well to move in and out of range as well as around an opponent. His biggest real issue is his relative lack of power when compared to the rest of his skill set. It's not as if Bradley fights like Miguel Vazquez using his jab and moving constantly, but instead he often gets in to the trenches and goes for it.
Since first fighting at the world level back in 2008 Bradley only has a solitary TKO on his record and that was over a faded Joel Casamayor in 2011. Despite this he has been able to drop fighters on a regular basis including Witter, Edner Cherry, Peterson and Casamayor though was only able to finish off Casamayor.
Whilst Bradley is a proven world class fighter Provodnikov has yet to fight at this level. In fact Provodnikov has so far been making his name on ESPN Friday Night Fights where he has proven to be a popular, though somewhat limited, warrior. He's got a reputation as being tough as old boots, like Bradley and an aggressively minded fighter (also like Bradley) but lacing finesse in the ring and instead relying on his brute strength and work rate to try and over come opponents.
Often Provodnikov has managed to hide his deficiencies thanks to the weak level of opponents he has been facing including the shell of Emmanuel Augustus, a very shop worn DeMarcus Corley and an old Javier Jauregui. In his only loss (which some feel he should have won) Provodniov was taken 12 rounds by the teak tough Mauricio Herrera who has since proven to be a very credible "B" level fighter with hard fought decision losses to Mike Alvarado and Karim Mayfield as well as a victory over Mike Dallas Jr.
Although Provodnikov is very strong and very tough he has the facial features that mark up very easily and if, as I expect, he decides to fight Bradley head on, he could end up being very marked up very early on. Bradley's head has a knack of cutting others and with the punches also flying I think Provodnikov will end up being warrior who gets stopped against his wishes despite his face being a mess.
Prediction-Bradley TKO10
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