Arum says no to Bradley-Provodnikov rematch

By Bill Phanco If you were one of the many boxing fans interested in seeing a rematch between WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley (30-0, 12 KO’s) and Ruslan Provodnikov (22-2, 15 KO’s) in order to clear up the confusion about their fight last Saturday night, you can forget it because it’s not happening. Bradley’s promoter Bob Arum has ruled out a rematch between the two at least for the time being. Arum does leave open the possibility of matching them up again one of these days in the future, but not until they’ve faced other guys. Arum wants to move Bradley forward and match him three potential opponents: Manny Pacquiao, Juan Manuel Marquez or the winner of the Brandon Rios vs. Mike Alvarado fight. Arum said to Radio Raheem “It doesn’t surprise me that it was such a great fight because I watched Ruslan in the gym with Manny. It’s a win-win for both guys. Bradley comes out with a lot more plusses than when he came in, and Ruslan Provodnikov is now known by everybody in America. There’s lot of possibilities for fights they can have. Ruslan, we have a lot of opponents for Ruslan, and eventually they can fight again. I’m not one that advocates immediate rematches. I don’t think Manny should take any tune-ups. He can fight one of three guys – Tim Bradley, Juan Manuel Marquez, and the winner of Rios-Alvarado. Those aren’t tune-up fights any of them. These guys have a lot of possibilities, a lot of options. If Rios fights Manny or Rios fights Bradley, if he wins the fight, Alvarado can fight Provodnikov.” It sounds like Provodnikov will be matched up against the loser of Rios-Alvarado. That’s probably not the fight that Provodnikov was hoping to get, especially given that he could have earned a least a draw if the referee had scored a 1st round knockdown when Bradley was out on his feet and couldn’t stand up after slipping to the canvas after eating a big right hand. Having Provodnikov fight the loser of Rios-Provodnikov is kind of off putting because it’s not a reward for a guy that could be the WBO champion today if the referee gave Provodnikov credit for 10-8 rounds in the 1st, 2nd and 6th rounds.

Comments (20)

Marquez turned down an immediate rematch the second time only to fight Chris John in Indonesia for $70k or whatever the tiny purse was. I'm talkin about arum, and that time marquez aint top rank, then in the 3rd fight when he feels he need redemption he was forced to sign to top rank :haha:

13y ago

bodyshots

Bob Arum is dumb. That's the summary of this entire thread.

13y ago

leonthegee

No need for a rematch. You guys all saw the numbers. The Pacquiao fiasco gave Bradley alot of haters. 1.4 mil against a no name in Ruslan. With Mayweather and Showtime putting big cards on Arum and HBO are under the gun to bring the ratings up. I wouldnt be surprized if Bradley starts running his mouth alot more to bring in more haters. Alot can happen in the next year or two. Its not like we've never seen Arum steal one of GBP fighters before. 3 yrs ago Top Rank had most of the talent at 147.

13y ago

shade_darkar

surprise surprise. a fight that actually deserves a rematch and that old bastard says no! but get knocked clean out and all you here is lets make a 5th fight bla bla. fcuking joke. just wish arum would do us all a favour and remove himself from the sport.

13y ago

HanzGruber

"i am not one who advocates immediate rematches." fckin arum lol. Don't know who he thinks he's fooling with that one.

13y ago

IIG

I'm no Bob Arum fan, but I had to laugh when he sonned Radio Raheem. I despise that guy and his questioning. And I'm glad Bradley is moving on to bigger and better things than a rematch next.

13y ago

THE_REED

" After fighting a draw with Manny Pacquiao, Marquez turned down a $750,000 offer for a rematch with Pacquiao: He wanted $1.5 million. Marquez then turned down a $1.5 million offer to fight Erik Morales: He wanted $3.5 million. Instead, Marquez fought Chris John for a purse of $31,250 and lost." lollerblading.

13y ago

KING_MEAT

"i am not one who advocates immediate rematches." fckin arum lol.

13y ago

Bigg_Rigg

Of course he isn't. Tim almost got stopped 5x thru out the fight. I'm sure Arum was thrilled the fight was a good one but Tim took a beating. He's gonna try and milk Tim a little bit for the little he can get out of him.

13y ago

Kagami_Taiga

yet people claiming he won this he won that, it's pure business my friend lol, im still not sure u understand.

13y ago

THE_REED

it took him 4 years to make the 2nd, almost 4 years to make the 3rd and 1 year to make the fourth, if you mean by the fifth, jmm is most likely to fight bradley, and besides he's all about business $$$$ That's because HIS fighter won all of those fights, now that he lost, he wants his next fight to be a rematch.

13y ago

juandabomb

If Alvarado wins then you will see a third fight. what will happen is that you will see ruslan vs marquez and pacman vs Bradley. unless rios wins then you will see rios vs pacman/Bradley vs marquez then you will see the winners meet. ruslan would fight Alvarado....just my assumptions but I can see this happening

13y ago

PainLucy

it took him that long because his fighter won...obviously. yet people claiming he won this he won that, it's pure business my friend

13y ago

Kagami_Taiga

it took him 4 years to make the 2nd, almost 4 years to make the 3rd and 1 year to make the fourth, if you mean by the fifth, jmm is most likely to fight bradley, and besides he's all about business $$$$ it took him that long because his fighter won...obviously.

13y ago

PainLucy

I’m not one that advocates immediate rematches. Meanwhile in a meeting with JMM about Pacquiao. it took him 4 years to make the 2nd, almost 4 years to make the 3rd and 1 year to make the fourth, if you mean by the fifth, jmm is most likely to fight bradley, and besides he's all about business $$$$

13y ago

AgainstTheRopes

Bradley's marketability reached a new high, why parlay into a rematch with Prov in front of a couple thousand fans when you can put him against Marquez or Rios?

13y ago

Kagami_Taiga

I’m not one that advocates immediate rematches. Meanwhile in a meeting with JMM about Pacquiao. not to mention he wants provid to fight the loser of another immediate rematch...rios/alvarado. lol. funny guy

13y ago

Kev

This was expected, not only did Ruslan get screwed here, he screwed himself because very few are lining up to fight him now. He's going to be like Margarito in the mid 2000's where nobody is going to fight him. My goodness.

13y ago

Kev

I have no problem with this honestly, but only because Bradley is set to fight better fighters. If he was going to fight a lesser fighter, that would be a problem. And... Bradley was out on his feet and couldn’t stand up after slipping to the canvas after eating a big right hand. After eating a big right hand and then being leaned on.

13y ago

chav

I said to Rapid Counter & Terrell the other day, now Bradley has an air of "excitement" around him, he's going to be hooked back into Manny Even Arum said Bradley stunk thr joint out with his previous performance, or at least intimated no one would ever want to see the rematch between Manny & Bradley. Now Bradley is "HOT", he has a front runner for Pacman and a rematch that HBO will probably be excited about. The other fights like Rios, JMM with Pac are sure fire winners for HBO, but the Bradley fight was a hard sell...now it's easy Bradley vs Pac for September anyone?

13y ago