Jeff Sorby

Provodnikov stops Alvarado in 10th

Alvarado_Provodnikov_131019_004a-2-480x312Ruslan Provodnikov (23-2, 16 KO’s) ended the brief reign of WBO light welterweight champion Mike Alvarado (34-2, 23 KO’s) by defeating him by 10th round stoppage tonight in a two knockdown victory at the 1STBANK Center, Broomfield, in Denver, Colorado, USA. In the 10th round, Provodnikov staggered a tired and badly beaten Alvarado, pummeling him with powerful shots for the last minute of the round.

Alvarado was ready to go in the last 20 seconds of the round while trapped against the ropes badly hurt. Somehow Alvarado made it out of the round, but there was no way that he was going to be able to make it through the 11th. After the round, Alvarado’s corner wisely halted the fight rather than letting him come out for the 11th and get finished off by Provodnikov.

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Kovalev vs. Sillakh possible for November 30th on HBO

kovalev22WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev (22-0-1, 20 KO’s) could be facing fringe contender Ismayl Sillakh (21-1, 17 KO’s) for his first title defense on HBO on November 30th, according to Dan Rafael. It’s still definite but it’s of the names being mentioned for the 30-year-old Kovalev.

The light heavyweight division has less than impressive contenders, so this might be about as good as it gets unless Kovalev faces Nathan Cleverly again. We already saw how much of a mismatch that fight was with Kovalev stopping Cleverly in 4 rounds last August.

Sillakh’s stock has really dropped since he was stopped by Denis Grachev in the 8th round last year in April. Sillakh was winning the fight handily when he got nailed by a big right hand from Grachev in the 8th round, and then taken out with a flurry of punches.

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Quigg-Salinas fight to a draw, Joshua beats Leo

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In a controversial ending the WBA super bantamweight bout between champion Scott Quigg (26-0-2, 19 KO’s) and Yoandris Salina (20-0-2, 13 KO’s) was scored as a draw tonight at the O2 Arena in London, UK. It was difficult to see what the judges saw in Salina’s performance because Quigg looked like a clear winner by at least 4 rounds possibly more. Salinas didn’t throw nearly enough punches to make the fight even.

The judges scored the fight as follows: 114-114, 115-113 for Quigg, and 114-114.

Quigg really took the fight to Salinas after the first four rounds and punished him with head and body shots. Salinas did look good defensively, but he forgot about his offense for long stretches of the fight and it was difficult to give him a lot of rounds due to his lack of offensive output.

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Wladimir saying nice things about Povetkin

wlad443IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitachko (60-3, 51 KO’s) isn’t doing much to try and ruffle the feathers of his Russian opponent WBA heavyweight champion Alexander Povetkin (26-0, 18 KO’s) ahead of their fight tomorrow night at the Olimpiyskiy, in Moscow, Russia.

Wladimir has been very complimentary of the 34-year-old Povetkin throughout the build-up to this fight to the point where it’s probably worked against both of them in generating interest in the fight.

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Mayweather’s next opponent still a mystery; Khan fight not happening

floyd432On Wednesday both Team Khan and Mayweather Promotions CEO Leonard Ellerbe said that a fight between former two division world champion Amir Khan and Floyd Mayweather Jr. isn’t happening. According to Dan Rafael, Ellerbe calls it nothing more than rumors that Floyd will be fighting the struggling Khan, and Team Khan is saying that Khan will possibly be fighting IBF welterweight champion Devon Alexander on December 7th.

This leaves the question about who Mayweather Jr. will be fighting on May 3rd next year. He’s selected the Cinco de Mayo holiday to fight, so it makes a lot of sense for him to fight a Mexican fighter or least a Hispanic fighter. Unfortunately, there’s not too many names for Mayweather to fight at 140, 147 or 154 if he’s looking to a top Hispanic fighter.

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Stevenson destroys Cloud

stevenson44WBC light heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson (22-1, 9 KO’s) totally dominated former IBF light heavyweight Tavoris Cloud (24-2, 19 KO’s) in stopping him after the 7th round on Saturday night at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Canada. The fight was halted after the 7th round because of a nasty cut over the right eye of Cloud. He was cut over both eyes, but the cut over his right eye was deep one.

It was a horribly one-sided fight from start to the bitter finish with the southpaw Stevenson hitting Cloud at will with lightning fast left hands and right hooks. Cloud was too slow of hand and foot to land anything more than an occasional shot. He did land some punches in the 5th through 7th rounds, but not enough of them to make the fight competitive.

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Adonis Stevenson vs. Tavoris Cloud this Saturday in Montreal

Former IBF light heavyweight champion Tavoris Cloud (24-1, 19 KO’s) is going to test whether WBC light heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson (21-, 18 KO’s) is for real or not this Saturday in their fight in their fight at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Canada. Stevenson, 36, has proven to be a devastating puncher in last 9 fights in which he’s scored 9 consecutive knockouts.

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Will Tom Zbikowski return to boxing?

The hard hitting cruiserweight Tom Zbikowski (4-0, 3 KO’s) was Zbikowski was reportedly cut by the NFL football team the Chicago Bears during the preseason recently, and it’s unclear whether Zbikowski will be picked up by any of the other teams in the National Football League at this point.

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Arreola obliterates Mitchell in 1st round TKO

arreola555In a disappointing Showtime card filled with terrible mismatches, heavyweight Chris Arreola (36-3, 31 KO’s) totally obliterated Seth Mitchell (26-2-1, 19 KO’s) in the 1st round tonight at the Fantasy Springs Casino, in Indio, California, USA.

Arreola dropped the weak-chinned Mitchell twice in the 1st round. The fight, if you want to call it that, was then halted after Arreola hit Mitchell with a series of right hands that sent him running towards the ropes for safety behind the referee. Looked almost comical how Mitchell ended up behind the referee.

The first knockdown game from a right hand to the head that put Mitchell on the canvas. Mitchell got up, but his legs were totally gone and it was clear he wasn’t going to make it out of the round unless he held. Unfortunately for Mitchell, he didn’t choose to hold onto Arreola, and moments latter Mitchell was knocked down again after getting hit with several hard right hands to the head.

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