By Gregory Stangrit

WBO junior welterweight champion Ruslan Provodnikov (23-2, 16KOs) has no interest in facing Manny Pacquiao in a future fight. The two boxers are both trained by Freddie Roach at the Wild Card Gym in Hollywood, California. Provodnikov considers Pacquiao a close friend and worked as a sparring partner in several of Pacquiao's past camps.

Provodnikov was ringside on Saturday night in Macau, and watched Pacquiao win a dominating twelve round decision over Brandon Rios (31-2-1, 23KOs). After the fight was over, Provodnikov was mentioned as one of several possible opponents for Pacquiao, who returns on April 12 in Las Vegas.

Provodnikov was worried about Pacquiao's health in the match. Prior to Saturday night, Pacquiao was knocked out cold in the sixth round of his fourth fight with Juan Manuel Marquez last December.

"I was very worried about Pacquiao in the fight. My hands were shaking. It was the kind of nervous feeling as if I was going into a fight. Every punch Pacquiao got away from, I was nervous. But it was good that Pacquiao won all of the rounds. For me, I don't want to fight Pacquiao and I think I'm doing the right thing," Provodnikov said.

Provodnikov feels Pacquiao has accomplished everything humanly possible as a fighter, maybe he should retire from the sport. Although Pacquiao dominated on Saturday, Provodnikov did not see the same fire and drive that Pacquiao displayed in past fights.

After the match, Pacquiao did admit to several reporters that he let Rios off the hook in the later rounds - something that Roach has accused him of doing in several of his past fights.

"I think Freddie should talk to him, because maybe it's time to finish up his career. With a boxer like Rios, and Manny couldn't put him away. You could see that he didn't have that same fire, that same desire that he used to have in the past. Rios did all that he could, he couldn't do any more than that," I saw that Manny stopped beating him up in the later rounds and just quietly boxed away," Provodnikov said.

At the post-fight press conference, Rios said he was ready for all comers, including Provodnikov - but Rios has no intention of going back down to 140.

"[Rios] said he doesn't want to go back down to 140, that he wants to stay at 147. I'm ready, I can go up to 147....that's not a problem. But I'll say it again, I don't want to fight with Manny. I don't need that fight," Provodnikov said.

Gregory Stangrit covers boxing for Allboxing.ru.