Will Things Work Out For Ruslan Provodnikov?

What will Provo's new path lead to? 

So now Ruslan Provodnikov is on Showtime and everyone is quite happy indeed. Why shouldn't they be? Provodnikov is never bad to watch. What's more, HBO let him slip from its grasp for some odd reason. Here's a question, though:

Will things actually work out for Ruslan over at Showtime?

Sure, he's about to face John Molina as a Showtime top attraction in June, but what then? Remember that Provodnikov is dangerous. Blindingly so. Tim Bradley was said to slur for weeks after their bout. Mike Alvarado was beaten by the Russian into submission.

Will Al Haymon, whose been attached at the hip to Showtime, allow his top guys to face such a foe? Will Haymon allow Provo to face Garcia? Or Broner? Would those men even be interested in such a fight? Sure, he's lost to Matthysse and Bradley over the past few years, but those were close fights. And no, as much as I like Chris Algieri, I don't think he beat Provodnikov when they met a while back.

So, what will all this ultimately mean for the Siberian Rocky? It's hard to tell, really. The fact that Showtime is clearly interested in being in the Provodnikov business is obviously a good thing. Fans will have to wait until after he beats Molina, however, to see what the future holds for Provo.

IF he beats Molina, that is. Never write anyone off in boxing.