By Yuri Tarantin

Former junior welterweight champion Ruslan Provodnikov (25-4, 18KOs) was very surprised that Brandon Rios got knocked out on Saturday night by WBO welterweight champion Timothy Bradley.

Provodnikov fought Bradley in a "Fight of The Year" war in 2013. Bradley was hurt several times, went down in the twelfth and won a very close twelve round unanimous decision.

Ironically Provodnikov is now trained by Joel Diaz, the man who prepared Bradley for that fight.

For the last year, Provodnikov has been chasing a fight with Rios, but it never happened. Rios' promoter, Top Rank, was not interested in putting that fight together.  

Provodnikov had picked Bradley to beat Rios, but had no idea the fight would go in a one-sided manner and end with a knockout in nine rounds. Even Bradley, in pre-fight interviews, told fans not to expect a knockout ending.

"I had no doubts that Timothy would win. As a boxer, he is on another level. But I must confess that I was surprised at how Bradley beat him. I expected a one-sided fight, a wide points decision, but I never thought it would end in a knockout," Provodnikov said.

Rios struggled to make weight for the contest and Provodnikov believes "he paid for it" when he got in the ring.

After the loss, Rios announced his retirement at the post-fight press conference. Provodnikov doubts Rios will remain retired.

"No, I don't believe that he'll stay away for good," Provodnikov said.

Yuri Tarantin covers boxing for Allboxing.ru