PROVODNIKOV RETURNS TO ESPN2 ON JUNE 29

Press Release: Banner Promotions and Thompson Boxing will present the June 29th edition of ESPN2's Friday Night Fights in Corona, California. In the ten-round main event, Russian junior welterweight Ruslan Provodnikov (21-1 with 14 KOs) faces California's Jose Reynoso (16-2-1 with 3 KOs). Since Provodnikov's last fight on January 27th, a sixth-round TKO win against David Torres, he has been trained by International Boxing Hall of Fame 2012 inductee Freddie Roach and was the primary sparring partner for Manny Pacquiao for his fight against Timothy Bradley Jr.

Co-manager Vadim Kornilov said, “Around April 20, Ruslan flew to the Philippines - he was the only one that flew to the Philippines to train with Manny. On May 5, they all flew together to L.A. to continue their training at the Wild Card Gym. Ruslan didn't miss one single day of sparring. They sparred three times a week - Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday - and sparred around four or five rounds a day.

"Ruslan was with Manny every single day – they were running together, they were doing strength work together, they were training together. Manny said he was very happy with the work. Just being in camp and doing everything that Manny was doing, I think it built up Ruslan’s confidence and motivation a lot.”

Reynoso, 27 years old, has won five fights in a row since having an eight-round draw in January, 2010. A lefthander with skills, speed, and movement, he feels that he has the perfect style to offset Ruslan’s power and aggression and come away with an upset win.

The co-feature, scheduled for eight rounds in the junior featherweight division, pits Chris Martin (23-2-3 with 6 KOs) against Roberto Castaneda (19-1-1 with 14 KOs).