by Cliff Rold

It wasn’t his best performance, but it ended about as well as it could.  Bookending knockdowns in the first and final round, 28-year old Jr. Welterweight Ruslan Provodnikov (21-1, 14 KO) of Beryozovo, Russia, waded through a spirited effort from outgunned 33-year old David Torres (21-3-2, 13 KO) of Othello, Washington, to score a sixth-round stoppage on Friday night at the Northern Quest Casino in Airway Heights, Washington.

Torres wasted no time picking a fight, a short right catching Provodnikov to start the action in the first.  It didn’t take long for Provodnikov to make him regret it.  A short right, followed by a left hook to the temple, and Torres was on the seat of his trunks halfway through the round.  Sensing wounded prey, Provodnikov pressed and let loose on a Torres trapped in the corner.  Refusing to falter, Torres fired back hard to get away from danger and landed a right just before the bell.

The heart Torres showed in staying up was proved no anomaly as he continued to battle hard against a Provodnikov whose attack was sputtering.  His offense picked up the final minute of the fourth, body shots and short hooks battering Torres but not really taking any of the fight out of the underdog.

That wouldn’t come until the sixth round.

Cut under the right eye, Torres ran out of resistance as Provodnikov found his timing.  A left hook glanced across the face of Torres who relaxed as he slipped the shot.  A stiff left jab was right behind it, blinding him to a thundering right hand over the top.  Torres reached his right out to grab the ropes but found it only as his body hit the floor in the corner. 

Torres rolled to his knees and beat the referee’s count by a second.  Provodnikov was immediately on him, hooking to the head and body.  Torres fought back with a couple quick shots and stepped back into his defense.  Trapped again in a corner, Torres landed a left hook against the charging Provodnikov, and then another, but missed a right and ate one in return.  Provodnikov followed with a left to the body, left to the head, and a final right hand to send Torres crashing to the mat for the third time in the fight.

Referee Robert Howard made it the last time at 2:53 of round six as Provodnikov leapt onto the ropes in celebration.  Provodnikov picks up his fourth straight win, third by stoppage, since suffering his first loss early in 2011.  Torres drops to 1-3-2 in his last six fights.  All of the losses came inside the distance.

The televised evening kicked off with a violent clash of Lightweight hopefuls worth the price of admission on its own.  Over ten rounds, it was 25-year old Ji-Hoon Kim (23-7, 18 KO), 134 ½, of Goyang City, South Korea with a unanimous decision win against game, gutsy 27-year old Ghanaian Yukubu Amidu (20-3-1, 18 KO), 132, of Los Angeles, California. 

The referee was Louis Jackvony.  Given little to do as both men swung and caught all night, he had the best seat in the house.

It took only until the final minute of round one for a fight to really break out, Kim landing a series of blows and Amidu plugging away with slow, chopping rights.  In the second, it was Kim again landing more, his right more crisp to the head, bodywork remembered.  Amidu was undeterred, backing Kim up in the final minute and raking Kim near the corner only for the tide to shift in the waning seconds, Kim appearing to stun his man.

Amidu was stunned again with a minute to go in the third, Kim pressing the attack and Amidu forced to clinch and get his wits.  Amidu battled back and both men landed hard at center ring.  The battle continued, back and forth, defense sparse and each man landing generally whenever they let their hands go.  A brief break in the action in round six, brought on by a clash of heads and a Kim wince, was a rare lull.

For the next two rounds, action remained as it had been.  Neither Kim nor Amidu could fully seize control, exchanging with all they had to a crowd not nearly appreciative enough of their efforts.  Cut over the left eye, Amidu did a fine job of punching between the shots of Kim in the ninth only for Kim to dig deep and summon a strong close to the round.

With the fight potentially both men’s for the taking, Kim jumped on Amidu to start the tenth.  Kim was relentless, walking through stiff counter left hooks and right hands from Amidu, Kim landing to the body and head.  In the final thirty seconds, a pair of Kim uppercuts off the ropes lifted the chin of Amidu into the air but the Ghanaian bit down and plugged back for more.  They were still punching as the bell clanged to signal their efforts closed. 

In the end it was the greater activity and output of Kim that swayed the judges at scores of 96-94, 97-93, and a too wide 98-92.  They met one last time at center ring to raise each other’s hands for the crowd, a fitting end to an honorable battle.  

The card was televised in the U.S. on Showtime as part of its “ShoBox” series, promoted by Goosen Tutor.

Cliff Rold is a member of the Ring Magazine Ratings Advisory Panel, the Yahoo Pound for Pound voting panel, and the Boxing Writers Association of America.  He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com