HBO pushing Mayfield-Dulorme winner towards Provodnikov

Junior welterweight titlist Ruslan Provodnikov is penciled in for his first title defense on June 14, location to be determined. Besides figuring out where the fight will take place, promoter Artie Pelullo told ESPN.com that he is in discussions with HBO, which will televise the bout, about an opponent -- a situation they do not see eye to eye on at the moment. Pelullo said that he and Bob Arum, Provodnikov’s co-promoter for the next fight, want to match Provodnikov either with former lightweight titlist Antonio DeMarco (30-3-1, 23 KOs) of Mexico, who has won his past two fights since moving up in weight, or Chris Algieri (19-0, 8 KOs) of Huntington, N.Y., who looked good outpointing Emmanuel Taylor on ESPN2’s “Friday Night Fights” on Feb. 14. “Arum and I want DeMarco or even Joe DeGuardia’s guy, Algieri,” Pelullo said. “But HBO wants us to wait for the winner of the Thomas Dulorme-Karim Mayfield fight and we don’t want to wait another month. Besides, what happens if the guy who wins that fight gets injured or cut? We want to make a fight now and get it done as soon as possible so we can go out and sell the fight, get a site and really promote it. But we’re trying to work things out with HBO.” Dulorme (20-1, 14 KOs) and Mayfield (18-0-1, 11 KOs) meet on March 29 in Atlantic City, N.J., on HBO on the undercard of light heavyweight titlist Sergey Kovalev’s defense against Cedric Agnew. Provodnikov (23-2, 16 KOs) lost the 2013 fight of the year by decision to welterweight titlist Timothy Bradley Jr. but then returned to junior welterweight, went to Mike Alvarado’s hometown of Denver in October and stopped him in the 10th round of a bruising fight to win a 140-pound title. Whomever Provodnikov faces, Pelullo said that the co-feature could be junior middleweight titlist Demetrius Andrade making his first defense against mandatory challenger Brian Rose (25-1-1, 7 KOs) of England. Pelullo and DeGuardia co-promote Andrade and are working to make a deal with Rose promoter Matchroom Sport. “HBO tells us they are interested in Demetrius, but not really interested in that fight ,” Pelullo said. “But it’s a mandatory so we are trying to work it out.” Andrade (20-0, 13 KOs) won a vacant title by split decision against Vanes Martirosyan on Nov. 9 on HBO, which holds the first right of refusal and a last look option on his next bout. LINK

Comments (15)

Dulorme doesn't want none of ruslan, due to styles Mayfield has a better chance vs ruslan, I think he could pull a Nate Campbell- Juan Diaz type performance vs ruslan Not true, he was actually at the Alvarado-Ruslan fight and was telling people there he wants to fight Prov.

12y ago

The_Gambler1981

Well that is about the best guy they can come up with, so I don't think you can complain much and with Provodnikov it is hard to make a bad fight.

12y ago

Hougigo

What is ***8222? I've been seeing a lot of that lately. I assumed it's just me. I got a crap ton of viruses on my computer and i got adds in random words.... I don't know

12y ago

marvin_douglas

I've been following Mayfield for years now. All I can say is that I'm disappointed in the path his career has taken, and I***8217;m also sure he will agree with me. The guy is good***8211; I mean really good. He should have been a champ by now, especially considering the proliferation of ***8220;world titles***8221;. But like a lot of good fighters with ***8220;promising careers,***8221; bad management and boxing politics robbed him of the chance to prove he was great. I hope he can salvage what***8217;s left of his career and go on to greatest. I wish him the best.

12y ago

thiefery

I hope it's not Algieri... That kid is not ready yet... He has potential, but is like a half baked Turkey on Thanksgiving, not ready yet !!! ( I like that one, I'll have to put it back in my pocket and break it out another day.) Provodnikov should fight on his own schedule. He can take the winner of Dulorme vs Mayfield later... Yeah I don't see this kid ready for someone like Ruslan just yet. I'd be worried that he could blow his chance with a premium cable channel if Ruslan gets to him and gets the KO. People would then think he's strictly an ESPN FNF type fighter

12y ago

Hougigo

Andrade finally got the B.S sorted? The purse bid was supposed to be in January....still no fight

12y ago

MindGame

12y ago

Joey_Torreo

Dulorme doesn't want none of ruslan, due to styles Mayfield has a better chance vs ruslan, I think he could pull a Nate Campbell- Juan Diaz type performance vs ruslan Dulourme did call Provo out recently though.

12y ago

Mayweather410

Mayfield should win - Dulorme has no chin. Mayfield-Provodnikov is a good fight. Idk about Dulorme having no chin yeah Abregu was able to crack it but those Argentinians throw bombs and no one else has chin checked Dulorme.

12y ago

Foreign_Soil

Mayfield should win - Dulorme has no chin. Mayfield-Provodnikov is a good fight.

12y ago

Sugar_Adam_Ali

Dulorme doesn't want none of ruslan, due to styles Mayfield has a better chance vs ruslan, I think he could pull a Nate Campbell- Juan Diaz type performance vs ruslan

12y ago

radioraheem

If Mayfield wins, I think it would be a great match.

12y ago

El_Angel

HBO got the right idea Would be good with either one too. I'm not really sure who to pick in Mayfield-Dulorme.

12y ago

285Kid

HBO got the right idea

12y ago

CANELOLUJAH

battle of the mediocre. yippe