Marquez next fight set be announced:

Juan Manuel Marquez will take on Mike Alvarado on May 17th....the winner will then go on to face Manny Pacquaio/Bradley victor later in the year.

This will go down as nothing but a bitterly disappointing announcement after what was looking like a very good year for boxing.

Not only does it mean we may very well have Pacman v Marquez V or a very overmatched Pacman v Alvarado contest come the fall it also rules out the potential for a Pacman v Mayweather or Bradley vs Mayweather fight later in the year; meaning it has automatically ruled out a 2 fighters whom many feel are one of very few even match ups for Money May (who is already in a fight with a deja vu feel during May when he takes on Argentine brawler Maidana)..

Not only that but the contest and it's future effects yet again show that in house promotion is here to stay. With it continuous knock on effects occur for many in and around the Light Welterweight-Welterweight scene.

One man who will feel hard done by is Ruslan Provodnikov whom impressed many during not only his win over Alvarado but losing effort against Bradley....he rightfully earned a big pay day and had chased Manny, Bradley & Marquez but will get none of them now instead he is set to square off against lightweight title holder Antonio DeMarco, another Arum guy. Whilst the belief is the contest could set up a rematch with Bradley, that also goes out of the window if it is Bradley who comes through his bout with Pacman...instead setting up a rematch with Marquez or fight with Alvarado that again nobody would want to see.

So what do we make of the initial fight up?....Has Ruslan been dealt an empty hand by all of this...and more importantly do we feel this whole scenario has the potential to turn what could have been an excellent year for boxing into yet another farcical one..

Provodnikov was supposed to fight Rios, but that fat bum couldn't make 140lbs, currently walking around over 180lbs...

Provodnikov will destroy DeMarco. Can't see it lasting more that 4 rounds. 

As for Marquez vs Alvarado, pointless fight. Marquez is many leagues above Alvarado.

A couple of past it losers...........In a meaningless fight..

Give this one a miss..

Marquez by late stoppage.............Alvarado lost to a poor man's Chuvalo in his last fight.

Otherr than the way his face looks and his chin I don't see how Provodnikov is a chuvalo. Puts his punches together well, can close off the ring ok although he's no GGG and can hit hard.

Watch some of his fights, he's quite entertaining.

Very disappointing match up, Provodnikov was very vocal in his pursuit of JMM but Marquez has opted for the guy who just lost to Ruslan

JMM didn't do awfully against Bradley but he has lost a step and obviously didn't want to go up against someone as powerful and relentless as Ruslan. Provodnikov deserves the fight, he will run through demarco too inside 6

Think Marquez should retire, and i hope we wil see Rios-Provodnikov soon as it's guaranteed fireworks

Marquez needs to retire he's made more than enough money, can see him having 1 more fight with manny though and getting finished! he looked slow against Bradley and I would pick a few 140 and most welter to beat him now! Still he's very entertaining and the fight will be good to watch even though pointless, the only reason it's happening is so he gets a fight now which he won't lose and he fights manny later this year j

Bradley-Mayweather is the only fight I'm interested in and this has just scuppered it.

Great.