John Molina Jr./Photo courtesy of Premier Boxing Champions
Ruslan Provodnikov of Russia and John Molina Jr. of Covina are fan-friendly fighters in that they’ll take two punches to give one real good one. They are the epitome of ring warriors. Pit one against the other, and a vicious fight can be expected. That should be the case when they tangle June 11 in the junior welterweight main event at Turning Stone Resort & Casino in Verona, N.Y. (on Showtime).
Provodnikov is expecting nothing less.
“I’m expecting him to come to fight,” said Provodnikov, 32. “No doubt he’s a fighter, he’s a warrior. For somebody to defeat me is a big motivation and I know he’ll be coming to win. No matter what, he’s going to do anything possible to win this fight. That’s what I expect from people that take a fight with me – that they’ll die in the ring to defeat me because it would be a great accomplishment. So I’m expecting a real war, a real fight.”
Provodnikov (25-4, 18 KOs) is a former world champion. But Molina lost his only world-title fight. And at 33, Molina (28-6, 23 KOs) may not get may more chances, which means this is a really big fight for him. A victory could help him get another shot at the promised land.
“We definitely want to catapult off of a big, marquee name,” Molina said. “We want to be on the winning side. That is the goal 110 percent. We won’t be satisfied with anything less than a victory. I’m not content with getting in these fights because people love to watch me fight.
“I want to be content with getting these fights because I’m victorious and that’s what we’re planning on doing on June 11.”
We can’t wait for this one.