HBO Exec: Rios-Provodnikov is a Priority For The Fans

By Victor Salazar

New York - Although HBO will be dormant in the months of August and September, Director of Programing, Peter Nelson, hopes to have a busy fall and winter.

“It’s been a very busy year so far,” Nelson told BoxingScene.com. “We took a little break in the summer months to ramp up for the fall where we go to Oct 3rd for Matthysse Postol combined with Soto-Orozco. We have Golovkin-Lemieux with Roman Gonzalez followed by Wladimir Klitschko Tyson and other things brewing that night. Then we head into a busy November with Miguel Cotto and Canelo Alvarez and December schedule to end the year.”

One fight that is on the list to get done could be a brutal war between Brandon Rios and Ruslan Provodnikov. Rios has had two fights fall apart, with Timothy Bradley as well as one with Kell Brook. Provodnikov and his team have said that they will either fight Rios or go fight in Russia if they don’t land Rios. Nelson says it’s a priority to deliver the fight to the fans.

“It’s on top of the list to get done, it’s a phenomenal fight,” stated Nelson. “It looks to be an all-out war, the type of fight Rios-Alvarado 1 was. The famous line for Rios-Alvarado 1 was Rios telling Robert Garcia in the corner, ‘me gusto’ after the first round. That’s the type of fans loved to see and watch. It’s our job to try and get the fight done because thats the fight the fans want to see."