VERONA, N.Y. — Everybody, it appeared, said the same thing. This was bound to be a battle of the year hopeful even before the warriors ventured into the ring.
All things considered, how about we get rid of this privilege off. It wasn't. Way off the mark.
Be that as it may, it was the battle of the year for John Molina Jr., no doubt. The battle of his profession, to be completely forthright. All things considered, Molina was at one point as much as a 7-1 underdog to "The Siberian Rocky," Ruslan Provodnikov.
Molina, 33, utilized his tallness and achieve favorable position to hit freely throughout the night, 643 of them taking all things together, and kept the slugging Russian under control, not permitting Provodnikov to get inside where he's most agreeable at short proximity.
Thus Molina left away with a consistent choice in the 12-round, junior welterweight headliner at the Events Center at Turning Stone Casino here, only a couple of miles up the street from the International Boxing Hall of Fame, which is holding its 2016 prompting service on Sunday.
The three judges conceded to nine of the 12 rounds. Glenn Feldman had it 115-113, John McKaie had it 117-111 and Don Ackerman 116-112, just for Molina.
Molina just outworked Provodnikov. He landed almost a hundred more punches, 377 to 283, and tossed 385 more punches than the Russian. In any case, Molina landed 152 of his 643 pokes, far outpacing Provodnikov's 86 of 265.
Provodnikov was battling on Showtime surprisingly under his new contract, and for just the second time with his most recent coach, Joel Diaz. Furthermore, Diaz's cautious impact was observable from the get-go, as Provodnikov, whether as a result of Molina's course of action or his powerlessness to release his hands, did not resemble the Ruslan of old, staying conditional for long extends. He resembled a drained contender now and again all through the battle.
Molina was likewise battling surprisingly under his new mentor Shadeed Suluki, and that, he said, was the distinction.
"He understood that I could utilize the punch, which was a terrible word at one point in my profession," Molina said. "What's more, he demonstrated to me generally accepted methods to utilize my feet. Furthermore, utilize my God-given characteristics, which is my tallness and achieve advantage."
Molina, from Covina, Calif., enhanced to 29-6 (23 KOs), while Provodnikov is 25-4 (18 KOs).
"It's a battle that we required," said Molina. "Ruslan Provodnikov is an exceptionally striking name. He's an intense, extreme person. He continued advancing.
"Individuals don't understand I had my novice profession in the aces, and now it's my opportunity to venture out and sparkle. . . . Shadeed demonstrated to me proper methodologies to toss punches and utilize my energy. We knew we needed to outwork Provodnikov."
What's more, as the punch sums appeared, he plainly succeeded with that part of the course of action.
Provodnikov, in the interim, offered no reasons.
"Today the choice was the right one. Molina won the battle – he was better this evening," Provodnikov said through his chief and interpreter Vadim Kornilov. "Everything was scored the way it ought to have been.
"We expected that he was going to box, he was going to move. It wasn't my night. Possibly I don't have the same craving as some time recently. I'm not going to rationalize, but rather it was hard for me to discover my notch today evening time. There are no reasons. I lost the battle this evening. I need to take a seat and consider why that happened.
"I'm sad in the event that I baffled."
(Photograph of Molina, right, and Provodnikov, by Amanda Wescott, Showtime)
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