By Yuri Tarantin
Faded former champion Jose Luis Castillo (66-12-1, 57KOs) is apparently in very good shape, according to the manager of Ruslan Provodnikov (23-3, 16KOs), Vadim Kornilov.
They are set to face each other on November 28th in Moscow. Provodnikov, a former WBO junior welterweight champion, returns for the first time since the June twelve round decision loss to Chris Algieri. Kornilov says several fighters were offered the opportunity to face Provodnikov but turned those offers down.
"Provodnikov will meet with Castillo. On Friday, the Mexican [fighter] signed a contract to fight. These negotiations took some time because we had to make sure that Castillo wouldn't have any problems with weight and we needed to resolve any issues regarding doping tests," Kornilov said.
"In the end everything went well, and together with 'World of Boxing' we did everything to ensure that Castillo is one hundred percent ready for this fight. Last Thursday, we organized a meeting with Castillo through an independent representative, who was present at his controlled weigh-in and, to our surprise, four weeks before the fight Jose Luis weighed even a bit less than Ruslan."
"In my opinion, this shows that he truly is seriously preparing for this fight, so we expect a real war in the ring. That is exactly what everyone is waiting for."
Yuri Tarantin covers boxing for Allboxing.ru
