By Ryan Burton

Newly crowned WBO super lightweight champion Ruslan Provodnikov's manager Vadim Kornilov advised BoxingScene.com that his client's top choice for his next opponent is Mexican icon Juan Manuel Marquez (55-7-1, 40KOs). Kornilov feels that if Manny Pacquiao ends up facing Floyd Mayweather or Tim Bradley next, Provodikov is the only fight that would make sense for Marquez.

"If a compromise is reached and Pacquiao fights Mayweather or Bradley, Marquez will have to fight Ruslan Provodnikov because that would be the only remaining fight for Marquez that people would actually want to see on HBO pay-per-view," Kornilov stated. 

"Brandon Rios vs. Ruslan would also be one of the most fan friendly fights out there right now, but I think Rios might avoid Ruslan even if offered more money for this fight. I think that Marquez has a lot of that Mexican warrior spirit in him and he will fight the best out there right now even thought it might be more risky than other fights he could take." 

Kornilov also said that they would love another shot at Bradley, who won a close decision over Provodnikov (23-2, 16KOs) in March. He feels that the fans would rather see a Bradley-Provodnikov rematch than a Bradley-Marquez rematch. 

"Ruslan facing Timothy Bradley again is another great fight for us and we're definitely open to that fight.  More importantly, it would be a rematch that people would want to see much more than a rematch between Marquez and Bradley which was clearly a one sided fight," Kornilov told BoxingScene.com.

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