DENVER – Among boxing’s myriad of adages is the one that says you must beat the champ – meaning beat the champ down – to take his belt. Russian Ruslan “Siberian Rocky” Provodnikov did exactly that to American light welterweight champ “Mile High” Mike Alvarado, stomping into Alvarado’s hometown and breaking his spirit.
Saturday at 1stBank Center, Provodnikov (23-2, 16 KOs) did the previously unthinkable before a soldout crowd of more than 7,000 Coloradoans, all on hand to cheer Alvarado (34-2, 23 KOs), punching the Coloradoan to a point of submission, dropping him twice and making him thrice refuse referee Tony Weeks’ inquiries about fitness to continue after round 10.
“I asked Mike two or three times, ‘Do you want to continue?’” Weeks said afterwards. “And Mike answered each time, ‘No.’”
“That’s how you become a world champion!” an elated Provodnikov said through his translator. “I went to his hometown. It was a tough fight, I knew it was a tough fight. That is now you become a world champion.”
From the very first round, one man’s punches told more than the other’s. Alvarado, who began tight, hands too high, skips too skittish, was moved sideways by Provodnikov’s hooks, even when Alvarado blocked them. Right hands from the Russian appeared to make Alvarado’s face wince before the first 90 seconds were complete.
“He’s the hardest puncher I’ve ever faced,” Alvarado said after being beaten.
Alvarado collected himself and made rounds 2 through 7 considerably more competitive than the first, switching styles almost constantly, from orthodox to southpaw, from uppercut specialist to defensive specialist, dropping his lead hand at times, leaping in with lead uppercuts at others. The boxing approach ultimately did not serve Alvarado.
“It just wasn’t Mike’s night,” said his trainer, Shann Vilhauer. “He was too defensive. He’s been reading his own clips since the (Brandon) Rios fight, thinking he’s this great boxer. This guy was tailor-made for him, but he was too defensive.”
In round 8, what appeared to that point a competitive scrap became a destruction, as Provodnikov’s fully committed punches cracked the façade of Alvarado’s poise. Twice Alvarado went down, waited for Tony Weeks’ count to near 10, touched his own chest then rose to fight on.
But by the 10th round, Alvarado, a large egg-shape swelling his right eye shut, was a broken man, walking at the round’s completion to the wrong corner, having to be fished from across the blue mat by trainer Shann Vilhauer. Referee Weeks went to the corner behind them and confirmed Alvarado had neither the will nor the ability to continue.
“I made him not want to fight me anymore, and that is the best outcome I could think of,” said Provodnikov. “After the eighth round, I just needed to stay calm.
“Mike Alvarado. He’s a real man, a real world champion.”
JUAN DIAZ VS. JUAN SANTIAGO
When Juan “Baby Bull” Diaz is at his best, every round bears a close resemblance to its predecessor. In Saturday’s co-main event, Diaz was at his best.
Making the second appearance in a nascent comeback, Diaz (38-4, 19 KOs) decisioned local lightweight Juan Santiago (14-11-1, 8 KOs) by lopsided unanimous scores of 97-93, 99-91 and 100-90.
“It felt great,” Diaz said of his victory afterwards. “I needed the rounds. It was a good fight.”
Diaz fought in his typical, self-possessed way, never overcommitting to any advantage, never fretting at an eaten punch, focusing on his opponent’s chest, measuring the patterns of his torso, relentlessly punching, regardless of effect. Saturday, though, he did a bit more jabbing than has been his custom.
“I believe that I have one of the best jabs in boxing,” Diaz said. “It’s undiscovered, but I believe tonight it showed.”
Diaz spun his shoulders, every left hook to the body opening the possibility of a right to the head, until Santiago, like so many men before him, lost his effect. For a beaten man, though, Santiago did not fight with reservation – often finishing rounds with a flurry and greeting his local fans with a raised left glove. Nothing Santiago did was enough; he was outclassed from the beginning but did his job, giving Diaz’s continuing comeback, and new jab, a firm chin to slam against.
“When I fight the best guys in boxing, (the jab) will come in handy,” Diaz said.
UNDERCARD
The final non-swing portion of the undercard saw two local welterweights do battle, as Denver’s Daniel Calzada and Longmont’s Carlos Marquez made the sort of entertainingly violent match that can happen when limited local fighters, guys who’ve seen one another round the gyms for years, fight for bragging rights, not titles. Each guy fought without regard for personal safety for all six rounds of a match Calzada won by majority decision: 57-57, 59-55, 58-56.
Accompanied to the ring by his famous uncle Acelino “Popo” Freitas, undefeated Brazilian super featherweight Vitor Jones de Oliveira (1-0-0-1, 1 KO) – and man whom Banner Promotions publicist Marc Abrams says “will transform boxing” – brought early and merciless ruin to local fighter Martin Quezada (2-8, 2 KOs) in Saturday’s fourth fight.
Possibly the best four-round fight in recent Colorado history happened before that, when local super featherweight David Escamilla (3-0, 1 KO) matched up with Mexican Jair Quintero (2-1-1), in a back-and-forth affair that saw each man rocked and winded at various moments of their 12 minutes of combat. Ultimately, the local prizefighter prevailed by three unanimous-decision scores of 39-36, but the match was closer than its scorecards would indicate.
The evening’s second match saw undefeated Puerto Rican super featherweight Starling Cordero (7-0, 3 KOs) race out his corner and race directly through overmatched Mexican Abraham Rubio (3-2-1, 1 KO), stopping him at 1:39 of round 1, after dropping him once and striking him with a large number of uncontested blows.
Saturday began with a heavyweight mismatch between Iowan Donovan Dennis (9-1-0-1, 7 KOs) and Hugo Arceo (3-1-1, 3 KOs), of nearby Boulder, and ended with one too many felled mouthpieces for Arceo, giving Dennis the win by knockout at 2:33 of round 3. Despite being staggered once in the second round, Dennis generally clobbered Arceo, dropping the face-bloodied Coloradoan, and his mouthpiece, numerous times.
Opening bell rang on a sparsely occupied 1stBank Center at 5:28 PM local time.
