Postol/Provodnikov Manager on Crawford/Herrera Bouts

By Victor Salazar 

Vadim Kornilov manages two of the more popular fighters in the junior welterweight division, Ruslan Provodnikov (25-4, 18KOs) and Viktor Postol (28-0, 12KOs). In 2015 both men were involved in two of the better fights of the year with coincidentally the same fighter in Lucas Matthysse .

Provodnikov and Matthysse went to war in April of 2015 at the Turning Stone Resort and Casino in Verona. For 12 grueling rounds Matthysse dealt with Provodnikov’s come forward style, earning him a hard fought decision win.

For Postol it was the opposite when he faced Matthysse in their October clash at The Stub Hub Center in Carson California. Matthysse started off strong in the fight but it was Postol that came on late to win the WBC championship by forcing Matthysse to retire in the later rounds.

Provodnikov also fought in Monaco in 2015, where he stopped Jesus Rodriguez after frustrations of not getting the likes of Brandon Rios and Amir Khan in the ring. For 2016, Khan is again rumored to be a potential foe with Provodnikov but the stronger rumor thus far is a rematch on HBO in March with Mauricio Herrera.

Kornilov says things are in the works for a date in March.

“At the moment there are still things that need to be worked on,” Kornilov told BoxingScene.com. “But yes Provodnikov-Herrera 2 is a strong possibility on HBO for 2016.

For his other client Postol, the immediate reaction from his victory over Matthysse was a showdown with Top Rank stablemate Terence Crawford at 140 lbs. Crawford is rumored to have a date in February in New York, should he not be in line to face Manny Pacquiao in April. But Kornilov says they are open to facing Postol.

“Postol is open to fighting Crawford,” Kornilov said. “We will see how things play out.”

VP of Top Rank, Inc., Carl Moretti put out on social media that Postol wanted to have two fights in between before facing Crawford.

To that statement, Kornilov said, “Well we thought it would be a good idea to have one or two fights before Crawford, but in reality if it all made sense we are ready to fight Crawford now.”