The modern world of Russian boxing is literally full of real stars, whose names have been learned in many countries of our planet for their skill and professionalism in the ring. In the cohort of the best, you should definitely mention a man named Ruslan Provodnikov - a fighter who blew up the boxing universe, won the world title and always worthily opposed the best athletes. His fate will be discussed in our article.
Brief biographical excursion
Ruslan Provodnikov was born in a small village called Berezovo on January 20, 1984. His hometown is very small and has only about seven thousand people. The nationality is Mansi. The guy started taking his first steps in boxing at the age of 10, when his father brought him to the boxing gym in order to distract his son from the street, where he took part in numerous fights. The first coach of Ruslan was Evgeny Vakuev, and already under the leadership of Stanislav Berezin, Provodnikov became a master of sports in Russia.
Amateur achievements
In amateurs, Ruslan Provodnikov participated in 150 fights and was able to win 130 of them. Of the significant victories, it is worth noting the victory of the tournament in Greece in 2000 under the name Eurocadet Junior Championship. In 2005, he reached the quarterfinal of the World Boxing Cup, which was held in Nizhnevartovsk, for the prize of TNK-BP.
Professional work
Ruslan Provodnikov spent his debut in the status of a pro in 2006. His first opponent was Russian Kirill Artemyev, who was also a novice boxer among professionals. The fight lasted all 12 rounds allotted, according to the results of which Conductnikov was awarded a victory by points.
The second battle of Ruslan was against Dmitry Toropchinov. In that fight, the opponent of Provodnikov refused to go to the third round. Such a positive backlog in his career contributed to the beginning of Ruslan’s performances in Armerik, where he spent the next three fights, which ended positively for him. After that, another 12 battles were conducted with fighters of a not too high level.
Serious level
The first truly dangerous opponent for Ruslan was the American Mourisio Herrera. The fight went the entire distance, and, unfortunately, its outcome was unsuccessful for the Russian.
You can not ignore the battle with the Mexican Ivan Popoka. The fight took place in the United States and ended in a knockout victory of Provodnikov in the eighth round, which is quite natural because he fully controlled the course of the fight.
In December 2011, Ruslan had a fight with former world champion Demarkus Koli. This fight took place in Yekaterinburg and turned out to be quite dramatic, because the Russian received a fairly strong cut in the second half of the match. The American adhered to the tactics of keeping Explorer at a distance. But in the end, all the judges gave victory to Ruslan.
First title
Russian boxer Ruslan Provodnikov January 27, 2012 won his first trophy - the title of intercontinental world welterweight champion. This victory was waiting for him in a duel with David Torres. After this success, Ruslan chose the eminent Freddy Roach as his head coach, thanks to which he got the opportunity to train and spar with the best boxers of our time, including Manny Pacquiao himself.
Historical confrontation
March 16, 2013 was the day when the whole world found out who Ruslan Provodnikov was. The best fight then awaited him with Timothy Bradley - WBO world champion. The fight itself was very dramatic and full of technical actions. The Russian acted assertively and aggressively, but the American accurately counterattacked, correctly acting on the waste. At the end of 12 rounds, the judges were favorable to the current holder of the belt, and this despite the fact that in the last three minutes he was knocked down, and indeed did not look too confident. As it turned out later, Bradley after the battle was hospitalized with a concussion.
The Ring magazine, respected by many experts, recognized this fight as the best fight of 2013, and Provodnikov himself received a nickname from the Siberian Rocky audience.
On the top
But, as life has shown, Ruslan Provodnikov (his biography is worthy of the attention of many young athletes) nevertheless became the world champion. On October 19, 2013, a Russian was able to defeat Mike Alvorado and take his belt. And this despite the fact that the American was considered a favorite. During the fight, Mike refused to continue the fight between 10 and 11 rounds.
Loss of title
Who would have thought, but on June 14, 2014, Conductors gave his belt in a fight with the little-known Chris Algieri. The judicial decision was quite controversial, but, nevertheless, Ruslan then lost. Many experts felt that the verdict was ambiguous and incorrect, but the belt passed into the hands of the American.
However, the hardest fight in his career, according to Ruslan, was for him with the famous knockout Lucass Matisse. The fight was held on April 18, 2015. By a separate decision of the judges, the victory was given to the Argentine. The Russian, on the other hand, received many cuts and “ate” a lot of heavy blows, although this did not break him.