Provodnikov's Manager on Decision To Fight in Monaco

By Ryan Burton

Earlier this week it was announced that former WBO super lightweight champion Ruslan Provodnikov (24-4, 17KOs) would face Jesus Alvarez Rodriguez in Monte Carlo on November 7th. The fight would headline a card put on by promoter Rodney Berman called "Night of Champions."

Juergen Braehmer was originally scheduled to headline the card against Tommy Oosthuizen but pulled out of the fight with a hand injury and Berman made a deal with Provodnikov's promoter Artie Pellulo for the Siberian Rocky to take his place.

BoxingScene.com spoke to Provodnikov's manager Vadim Kornilov to find out his thought process on why they took the fight.

"This is a great opportunity for us to showcase Ruslan in Europe in a great main event fight. Our promoter Artie Pelullo made us this offer and we cancelled the plans of Ruslan fighting in a big show in Moscow in November and took the offer," Kornilov revealed.

Provodnikov was originally scheduled to fight on the same date in the United States on Showtime, but his team wasn't able to secure an opponent that was deemed acceptable by the network.

"We know that Rodney Berman puts great shows together down there in Monaco. Gennady Golovkin has fought there numerous times and he told me that it was a great event. Next year Ruslan will be back in the U.S. in a very big fight. We are working on securing a big name opponent for next year already!" Kornilov told BoxingScene.com.

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