VERONA, N.Y. -- Junior welterweight John Molina, riding a strong jab and boxing just enough against former titleholder Ruslan Provodnikov, pulled the mild upset in a unanimous decision win on Saturday night at the Turning Stone Resort Casino.
Most expected the fight to be a wild brawl given the backgrounds of both fighters, two of boxing's most consistently entertaining performers.
Provodnikov, after all, has been in several barnburners, including a close decision loss in a welterweight title bout against Timothy Bradley Jr. in the 2013 consensus fight of the year. Molina, a former lightweight world title challenger, was knocked out in the 11th round by Lucas Matthysse in the 2014 Boxing Writers Association of America fight of the year, just one of the many brawls he has been in.
But while the fight was high contact and exciting, it never turned into the fight of the year candidate many expected it would be. Instead, Molina, in his first fight with trainer Shadeed Suluki, boxed enough and kept Provodnikov at bay for long enough stretches to win on scores of 117-111, 116-112 and 115-113. ESPN.com scored the fight 115-113 for Molina.
"It was a fight that we needed," said Molina, who won his second fight in a row after three straight losses. "Ruslan Provodnikov is a very notable name. He's a tough, tough guy. He kept moving forward.
"People don't realize I had my amateur career in the pros, and now it's my time to step out and shine. I have a new trainer. Shadeed showed me how to throw punches and use my power. We knew we had to outwork Provodnikov."
Molina did just that. According to CompuBox punch statistics, he landed 377 of 1,092 punches (35 percent) while Provodnikov connected on 283 of 705 shots (40 percent).
Provodnikov, who dropped to 3-4 in his past seven fights, did not argue with the decision.
"Today, the decision was the right one," Provodnikov said through a translator. "Molina won the fight. He was better tonight. Everything was scored the way it should have been."
After a feeling-out round to start the fight, they put their heads in each other's chests and began to fire away in the high-contact second round.
There was not much defense -- not that anyone expected there to be much -- as they fought at close quarters throughout the fight. Both landed and both took big shots, and although it was a crowd-pleasing fight, it never went to the next level of action.
Although Molina, 33, of West Covina, California, mixed it up, he was not reckless like he often is. He was disciplined and used his reach advantage and a strong jab to knock back Provodnikov's head and control the distance.
He landed a right hand after the bell ended the seventh round and was warned by referee Mark Nelson. Provodnikov (25-5, 18 KOs), who was in the first fight of an exclusive multi-fight contract with Showtime, emerged from the round with a cut over his left eye. By the end of the ninth round, Provodnikov's left eye was a mess.
After all the slugfests Provodnikov, 32, of Russia, and Molina (29-6, 23 KOs) have been in, it was a surprise to see the fight turn into a bit of boxing match in the later rounds. Molina kept pumping his jab and Provodnikov, in his second fight with trainer Joel Diaz, was bouncing on his toes and moving in and out. But Molina closed the fight strong as he pulled away on two of the scorecards in a fight that took place on the eve of the annual inductions into the International Boxing Hall of Fame, which takes place a few minutes away from the casino in Canastota.
"We expected that he was going to box, he was going to move," Provodnikov said. "We expected him to do that. It wasn't my night. Maybe I don't have the same hungriness as before. I'm not going to make excuses, but it was hard for me to find my groove tonight. There are no excuses. I lost the fight tonight.
"I couldn't find the hungriness. I have to sit down and think of why that happened. I'm sorry if I disappointed."
Andrade knocks out Nelson in 12th
Former junior middleweight titleholder Demetrius Andrade, stripped of his belt for inactivity, is on his way to another shot at a world title after looking sharp in a 12th-round knockout of Willie Nelson, whom he knocked down four times in their title elimination fight.
With the victory, Andrade became a mandatory challenger to eventually face newly crowned titleholder Jermell Charlo (28-0, 13 KOs), who won a vacant belt by eighth-round knockout of John Jackson on May 21.
Andrade, 28, of Providence, Rhode Island, was fighting for only the second time since June 2014, a stretch of inactivity he brought on himself by battling with his co-promoters and turning down fights. But Andrade said he stayed in the gym training during the layoff and it looked that way as he battered Nelson, 29, of Cleveland, round after round.
"Willie Nelson is a true champion. He pushed me and made me dig deep," Andrade said. "But I figured it out and we got that knockout, baby. I came back. I'm stronger. We worked hard. I'm ready for Charlo."
Andrade (23-0, 16 KOs), a southpaw, had a huge first round. He landed more than a dozen unanswered punches and had Nelson backing up and in trouble before connecting with a powerful right hook that dropped him hard. Nelson made it through the final few seconds of the round but looked shaky.
Andrade, a 2008 U.S. Olympian and former world amateur champion, put together flush four- and five-punch combinations and utilized his uppercut throughout the fight against Nelson (25-3-1, 15 KOs), who could do little more than attempt to defend himself and threw very little in return. He caught Andrade with a solid uppercut in the second round, but that was his best shot. Even when they mixed it up, like in the blazing finish to the eighth round, Andrade got the better of virtually every exchange.
Andrade's dominance was reflected in the CompuBox punch stats. He landed 247 of 650 punches (38 percent), while Nelson connected on just 68 of 361 blows (19 percent). Andrade was winning 110-97 -- a shutout -- on all three scorecards at the time of the knockout.
Andrade scored the second knockdown in the final seconds of the 11th round, when he cracked Nelson with a flush right hook. He continued to paste Nelson with shots in the 12th round, dropping him with a left-right combination and again with the right hand, after which referee Richard Pakozdi waved it off at 1 minute, 38 seconds.
"I'm coming to get those belts. People can't run no more," Andrade said. "The best have to fight the best. I'm coming for them."
Zlaticanin wins vacant lightweight title
Dejan Zlaticanin, out of the ring for a year while waiting for a delayed mandatory lightweight world title shot, cashed in with a one-sided, third-round knockout of overmatched late replacement Franklin Mamani.
Zlaticanin (18-0, 11 KOs), a 32-year-old southpaw who became the first fighter from Montenegro to win a world title, was scheduled to fight Italy's Emiliano Marsili, but he withdrew last week because of a stomach ailment. He was replaced by Mamani (21-3-1, 12 KOs), an obscure 29-year-old from Bolivia who showed nothing in the one-sided demolition.
"I'm very proud. I made Montenegro proud," Zlaticanin said. "I think I made my country proud. I think they will be delighted. I don't think they know what this means, but in a few days they will know. I knew that I would knock him out. I know how he fights and I knew it would be a knockout."
They were fighting for the 135-pound world title, which was stripped from Jorge Linares when he pulled out of an April mandatory defense against Zlaticanin because of a fractured hand. Linares was named a titleholder "in recess," and when he returns from the injury, he can have an immediate shot at Zlaticanin.
Zlaticanin dominated from the outset before badly hurting Mamani with a left hand in the third round. The Montenegro native landed numerous unanswered punches and finally sent Mamani staggering into the ropes with a straight left, causing referee Charlie Fitch to stop the fight at 54 seconds.
Monroe outpoints Thompson
In a match between former Boxcino tournament winners, Willie Monroe Jr., with a big cheering crowd from his hometown in nearby Rochester, New York, scored two knockdowns and won a unanimous decision against John Thompson.
The judges scored the fight 99-89, 96-92 and a surprisingly close 95-93. ESPN.com had Monroe winning 100-88.
Monroe, 29, and Thompson, 27, of Newark, New Jersey, were both coming off knockout losses in world title fights: Monroe in the sixth round against unified middleweight titleholder Gennady Golovkin 13 months ago and Thompson in the seventh round in October facing Liam Smith in England for a vacant junior middleweight belt.
But it was Monroe (20-2, 6 KOs), the 2014 Boxcino middleweight champion, who bounced back strong. He dropped an off-balance Thompson (17-3, 6 KOs), the 2015 junior middleweight tournament winner, with a cuffing left hand midway through the second round. In the fifth round, Monroe, a southpaw, dropped Thompson again with a stiff right jab.
Heavyweight Fedosov knocks out Heredia
Los Angeles-based Russian heavyweight Andrey Fedosov won the 2015 Boxcino tournament in May 2015 but had not fought since because of various injuries. But he returned in style to score four knockdowns in a one-sided, sixth-round destruction of Mexico's Mario Heredia (13-2, 11 KOs).
Fedosov (29-3, 24 KOs), 30, dropped the 23-year-old Heredia in the third, fourth, fifth and sixth rounds in an impressive performance.
Fedosov had a huge third round, badly hurting Heredia with a left uppercut and then dropping him moments later with a clean left hook with 25 seconds left in the round. Heredia made it out of the round but was bleeding from the nose.
Fedosov could not miss with his left hook, dropping Heredia with another one in the final seconds of the fourth round. Late in the fifth round, Fedosov knocked down Heredia for the third time with a left hand followed by a right that sent him to his rear end between the ropes and onto the apron.
And then a clubbing left hook deposited Heredia on his rear end again in the sixth round, and although he beat the count, referee Richard Pakozdi waved off the fight at 1 minute, 33 seconds.