By Igor Lazorin, tass

According to former world champion Ruslan "Siberian Rocky" Provodnikov (25-5, 18 KOs), he is ready to resume his career in 2017.

Provodnikov took a break after going 3-4 in his last seven fights.

The last time he saw action was back in June of last year, when he lost a unanimous decision to John Molina in what many viewed as an upset. The fight with Molina was the first bout of Provodnikov's new deal with Showtime. For Molina's end, the win catapulted him to a world title shot in the fall of that year with Terence Crawford.

Provodnikov, 33 years old, has had a lot of grueling fights over the years and needed the time off to rest his mind and body.  After the loss to Molina, he admitted that his desire was missing from that fight.

Prior to that fight he picked up a quick TKO win over Jesus Rodriguez in Monaco, and then in April 2015 he lost a majority decision in a "Fight of The Year" candidate against Lucas Matthysse at the Turning Stone Resort and Casino in Verona, New York.

"I have not finished my career," Provodnikov said. "I constantly train, I'm ready to jump in there at any time, even on the street. I'm ready [to fight], but I do not want to waste my energy on the rumors that go around all the time [that mention me as an opponent for certain fighters], but if a decent offer is presented [for those fights] - I will get in there."

There are still a lot of possible opponents for Provodnikov on Showtime, which is home to a number of big names from junior welterweight and welterweight. Some of those possible names could include Adrien Broner, Adrian Granados - rematches with Chris Algieri, Molina - and several others names are out there for him.