By Ryan Burton

BoxingScene.com caught up with Ruslan Provodnikov shortly after his 10th round TKO victory over Mike Alvarado.  The newly crowned WBO junior welterweight champion said that even though he entered the fight as the underdog, he knew that he would leave the ring with his hand raised.

"I was very confident in myself.  I knew that I had a great training camp and I was very confident that I would win and it showed," Provodnikov stated.

In the lead up to the fight, Alvarado said that he planned on using the same boxing style that he had used to defeat Brandon Rios in their rematch this past March. He said that Provodnikov wouldn't be able to bait him into the firefight that he lured Tim Bradley into in their fight earlier this year.

The 29-year-old Provodnikov said that he knew all along that he would be able to dictate the fight and that he would be able to get inside and hurt his opponent.

"I said that I was going to fight my fight.  That is my style.  I can fight open and take a few shots and still be able to land my punches.  I fought how I always fight," Provodnikov explained.

The contest was fought on fairly even terms before the Russian took over the second half of the fight with his relentlessness.  Alvarado went down twice in the 8th round and Provodnikov said that he knew it was just a matter of time before he finished him off.

"I saw that he was wearing down.  I said before the fight that it wouldn't be a technical fight, that it would be a fight of will and character and tonight I was able to break his will," said Provodnikov.

Provodnikov refused to say who he wants to fight next, saying only that after his grueling training camp and the exhausting fight that he wanted to take a nice break.

"I don't want to talk about future opponents.  I need to take a vacation and get a rest and let my body rest.  I gave my all in this fight like I do in all my fights and I need to let my body recuperate," Provodnikov told BoxingScene.com.

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