You can add Mexican warrior Jose Luis Castillo to the list of veteran former champions who are unable to stay retired. As per numerous reports, Castillo, now aged 51, will return to box fellow veteran and former champ Ruslan Provodnikov, 41, on June 7. SOKOL Fight League announced the fight, which is scheduled to take place in Krasnoyarsk, Russia.
It seems this will be an exhibition bout, but details are still to be confirmed. Castillo and Provodnikov fought for real back in 2014, with Provodnikov scoring a fifth round stoppage win. Who knows what kind of a performance either ageing former champ will be able to put on here?
Provodnikov is a decade the younger man but, like Castillo, he took plenty of punishment during his career. The absolutely epic war Provodnikov engaged in with Tim Bradley was, well, epic. Castillo is of course best known for arguably deserving the decision in his first fight with Floyd Mayweather, with so many experts and pundits stating back in 2002, and still to this day, that Mayweather got a gift from the scoring officials. Of course, fight fans will also never forget the first brutal, savage battle Castillo had with Diego Corrales.
Castillo is 66-13-1(57) and he has not boxed since being stopped by Provodnikov in November of 2014. Provodnikov is 25-5(18) and he last fought back in June of 2016, when he was decisioned over 12 rounds by John Molina Junior.
When Provodnikov stopped Castillo in 2014, the fight took place in Russia, so it will be a return trip there for Castillo here. And of course, Castillo will want to get his revenge this time. Whether it’s an exhibition bout or an actually sanctioned fight, the big thing here is we hope both guys get out of the ring safe and healthy. We sure have seen some pretty bizarre fights/exhibitions between some old guys over the past few months (who can forget that crazy James Toney-Razor Ruddock affair!). It could be, though, that Castillo-Provodnikov II has really caught everyone by surprise.