Ruslan Provodnikov Bounces Back, Destroys Juan Luis Castillo In Five Rounds
Ruslan Provodnikov bounced Juan Luis Castillo in the fifth round of their match-up on Friday at the Luzhniki GCKZ Arena in Moscow, Russia dominating the fight from start to finish in from of his home crowd. Provodnikov, who is from Beryozovo, Russia, officially won via technical knockout (TKO) at the 2:08 mark of the third round putting down his Mexican opponent twice in the fifth and what would be the final round of the match.
Provdnikov is the former World Boxing Organization (WBO) light welterweight champion but lost his title to Chris Algieri last June 14, 2014. Algieri got dismantled by Manny Pacquiao last Sunday in Macau and Provodnikov returns as one of the top contenders in the division. With the win, the Russian is now 2-2 in his last four fights also beating Mike Alvarado (via 10th round retirement) on Oct. 13, 2013 and losing to Timothy Bradley on March 16, 2013.
Other contenders in the light welterweight division are Danny Garcia (USA), Lucas Martin Matthysse (Argentina), Jessie Vargas (USA), Lamont Peterson (USA), Viktor Postol (Ukraine) and Adrian Broner (USA) and any one of them could be pair with Provodnikov, who is looking for a huge fight in his next bout. There’s also a possibility that Pacquiao will fight in the division and he will add an already stacked 140-pound division in boxing.
Other results in Luzhniki, Moscow, Russia
Mickey Rourke (7-0-2, 5 KOs) def. Elliot Seymour (1-10, 1 KO) via KO - 2nd round
Rakhim Chakhkiev (21-1, 16 KOs) def. Jackson Junior (15-2, 13 KOs) via TKO - 4th round
Dmitry Kudryashov (16-0, 16 KOs) def. Juan Carlos Gomez (55-4, 40 KOs) via KO - 1st round
Eduard Troyanovsky (20-0, 17 KOs) def. Jose Agustin Feria (16-2-1, 10 KOs) via KO - 1st round
Egor Mekhontsev (7-0, 6 KOs) def. Joey Vegas (17-10-1, 10 KOs) via unanimous decision
Joey Vegas (17-10-1, 10 KOs) def. Gabino Cota (16-3-1, 14 KOs) via unanimous decision
Sergey Lipinets (5-0, 4 KOs) def. Ernie Sanchez (14-6-1, 5 KOs) via KO - 8th round