David Avanesyan vs. Charlie Navarro & Ruslan Provodnikov vs. Jesus Rodríguez RBR

That poor kid...

Rodríguez's opponents heading in were a combined 35-108-11. :!:

Kind of unfair throwing him in with a contender with bone-crunching power who can bother elites (and has).

To his credit, Rodríguez was game and not overawed by the moment. For as long as he lasted he was committed to his game plan and took more chances than a lot of kids in his position would. He showed cojones.

 

Cheers.

 

Not in terms of affecting his rating, no, but on the eye test his performance can absolutely be judged - and in my opinion, it earns him very high marks (I stand by it, best performance of his career, viewed in a vacuum and ignoring context) and shows a great deal of promise for his reinvention under Joel Diaz.

Let's just say Provodnikov has never boxed that well in his life. I didn't think he was even capable - and Ruslan has been on my radar considerably longer than most (since '09)

 

...and his offense was so calmly & sharply delivered!

Joel really polished a turd, here. (not that Provodnikov was a bad fighter in his older cruder form - but he is now something a whole lot more; sort of like Maidana after linking up with Roberto Garcia)