WBO light welterweight champion Ruslan Provodnikov (23-2, 16 KO’s) thinks he has a good chance of being the next opponent for Manny Pacquiao (55-5-2, 38 KO’s) on April 12th in Las Vegas, Nevada. Provodnikov says he didn’t want the fight originally, but he’s changed his mind about it and he’s willing to fight Pacquiao in April.
This could be a very difficult fight for Pacquiao if it takes place, because Provodnikov is more rugged and powerful than the guys Pacquiao’s been facing. This is a much tougher fight for Manny than his last opponent former WBA lightweight champion Brandon Rios. Provodnikov is naturally bigger, faster and stronger than Rios. He also appears to be a smarter fighter than Rios, so it would be a tougher fight for Pacquiao.
Barring any kind of re-injury to his jaw during training, WBO lightweight champion Ricky Burns (36-2-1, 11 KO’s) will be back in the ring on March 1st against his mandatory challenger from America Terence Crawford (22-0, 16 KO’s) in a fight at the Scottish Exhibition Centre, in Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom. Burns is being pushed into this fight by the World Boxing Organization after they ordered the fight to take place next. Burns wanted to fight a rematch against Raymundo Beltran to clear up the mess from their fight last September that ended in a 12 round draw in Glasgow. 
WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin believes that Amir Khan (28-3, 19 KO’s), who has lost 2 out of his last 4 fights, will give Floyd Mayweather Jr. (45-0, 26 KO’s) a lot of problems with his talent, and he feels this is a good fight for business. Golovkin thinks Mayweather will struggle with Khan for some reason, and he’s very interested in seeing this fight. And what’s interesting is that Golovkin thinks the boxing public will want to see Mayweather fight Khan. 
2013 will go down as one of the best years of boxing in recent history. Thanks to big fights, big shocks and big knockouts, fight fans got everything they could have wanted in 2013.
Showtime President of Sports Stephen Espinoza doesn’t have a lot of faith than we’ll be seeing a fight between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao in he near future unless Pacquiao bites the bullet and chooses to leave Top Rank. Espinoza sees that as being the issue that is keeping the fight between Manny and Floyd from taking place. Espinoza has no doubts in his mind that Mayweather would take the fight with Pacquiao immediately. 
Former WBC light heavyweight champion Jean Pascal feels that WBO 175 lb. champion Sergey Kovalev (23-0-1, 21 KO’s) should be seen as an untested fighter until he beats an actual world champion to prove himself. To Pascal, he doesn’t know how good Kovalev is because he’s never been in with an opponent to where he could evaluate his talent level. Right now Pascal sees Kovalev as still having a question mark over his head about how good he is until he faces his first test at light heavyweight.
There had been talk of Roy Jones Jr. fighting former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva in a boxing match in what likely would have been a terrible mismatch due to Jones’ superior skills. However, the chances of a fight between Silva and Jones Jr. would seem remote at best at this time following Anderson Silva’s gruesome left leg injury he suffered last night against UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman in UFC 168 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Silva attempted a leg kick with his left leg, but Weidman blocked it with his left knee causing Silva’s left shin to fold in two. 
While Manny Pacquiao’s close adviser Michael Koncz met with Top Rank promoter Bob Arum this past week to discuss the two names – Tim Bradley and Ruslan Provodnikov – that Arum has for Pacquiao’s next bout April 12th in Las Vegas, Nevada, Pacquiao is still very much interested in fighting Floyd Mayweather Jr. That’s his first choice of who he’d like to fight, but unfortunately Mayweather’s not on Arum’s list of opponents for him to fight. It’s going to be one of Arum’s Top Rank fighters that Pacquiao faces next.
British fight promoter Frank Warren listed a number of fights that he would like to see take place in 2014, and one which is potential math-up between James DeGale (17-1, 11 KO’s) and the unbeaten middleweight #4 WBO, #11 IBF, #11 WBC, #15 WBA, Billy Joe Saunders (19-0, 10 KO’s). Warren sees this as a good fight that would do well in the UK in terms of making money and pleasing the fans.