ALLAN THE MAN

It wasn't quite a Fight of the Year contender, but it was definitely a fight, and a toe-to-toe war tonight in Denver between Mike Alvarado and Ruslan Provodnikov. In the end, Provodnikov beat Alvarado down and forced him to retire on his stool after 10 rounds, winning the WBO junior welterweight title.

Provodnikov (23-2, 16 KO) came out fast in the fight, but Alvarado (34-2, 23 KO) was able to use his boxing skills to keep enough separation to win the second round clearly, and probably the third as well. After that, though, Provodnikov's power advantage made the difference, as he wobbled Alvarado a fair number of times, hurting him to the body and cracking him upstairs with big right hands.

For Provodnikov, this is a big-time win and might open him up for a rematch with Timothy Bradley, with whom he put on the leading candidate for the 2013 Fight of the Year in March. But if that's not the fight, Provodnikov could now be in the mix to face Juan Manuel Marquez, in theory, or even the Pacquiao-Rios winner. One thing's for sure: Provodnikov is no fluke and his night against Bradley was no mistake. This is a powerful, ferocious fighter with all the guts in the world.