When Showtime unveiled its busy spring and early summer schedule on Friday one of the surprises was the presence of former junior welterweight titlist and fan favorite Ruslan Provodnikov.
Provodnikov and Artie Pelullo of Banner promotions agreed to a multi-fight deal with Showtime that will commence with the Russian brawler's 12-round junior welterweight bout against John Molina Jr. on June 11 (9 p.m. ET) at the Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona, New York, a few miles from the International Boxing Hall of Fame, which will induct a new class the day after the fight.
"I have been waiting for a long time to get back in the ring and to give my fans another fight," said Provodnikov, who has been out of action since a November win in Monte Carlo. "The opportunity has finally come and I appreciate Showtime looking at me as a future star on their network, and I will not let them down."
While two of Provodnikov's past six fights were overseas in Russia and Monte Carlo and not on American television, HBO televised the other four Provodnikov bouts during the stretch and they were all memorable: the 2013 fight of the year loss to Timothy Bradley Jr., the junior welterweight title slugfest win against Mike Alvarado, the controversial title loss to Chris Algieri and a close loss in the 2015 fight of the year contender to Lucas Matthysse.
But while Provodnikov (25-4, 18 KOs) always drew consistently good viewership figures for HBO, there was no room at the inn and HBO, facing budget constraints and obligations to other fighters and promoters, declined to make a commitment to him. All along, Showtime has had interest and was finally able to get its man.
"We're very excited for the Showtime debut of Provodnikov on [International] Boxing Hall of Fame weekend," Showtime Sports general manager Stephen Espinoza said. "It's a crossroads fight. Expect fireworks."
Pelullo said he spoke with Espinoza numerous times over the past 15 months in an effort to land a deal.
"HBO didn't really have anything for Ruslan and Showtime was interested," Pelullo said. "We talked about a lot of things but [HBO Sports executive vice president] Peter Nelson didn't have anything for us and he said to me more than one time, 'Where are you going to go?'"
Showtime is where they are going even though there had been talks between Pelullo and Top Rank's Bob Arum about a July 23 HBO fight between junior welterweight titleholder Terence Crawford and Provodnikov. But even as the talks were unfolding Pelullo was making the Showtime deal with the Crawford fight as a backup if it fell apart.
It was only a few minutes before the deal was announced on Friday that he said he called Arum to thank him for the Crawford offer but also to tell him they had accepted the Showtime deal.
Arum will have to find another summer foe for Crawford -- a unification fight with fellow Top Rank-promoted titleholder Viktor Postol should be a no-brainer -- but Provodnikov has his in fellow action fighter Molina (28-6, 23 KOs).
"This is a great opportunity for us," Vadim Kornilov, Provodnikov's manager, said. "Ruslan is always in fight of the year candidates. I think that with all the fans that have been long waiting to see Ruslan return to the ring in the U.S., Showtime has made a great business decision to give Ruslan an opportunity to come back and his fans an opportunity to see him in more of those brawls that they don't get to see very often."
Molina has lost three of his past four fights and looked particularly bad in a one-sided loss to Adrien Broner last March, after which Molina tested positive for a banned substance and served a suspension.
Molina, who lost to Matthysse in the 2014 Boxing Writers Association of America fight of the year, is excited about the match.
"I'm very familiar with Ruslan and have long believed that our styles would make for an outstanding war on June 11," Molina said. "Fighting on the Hall of Fame weekend means a great deal to me. It would be an honor to fight in front of the inductees."
Pelullo was glad to get the deal done with Showtime, which will also give other fighters he promotes exposure, including Demetrius Andrade, Willie Monroe Jr. and Petr Petrov.
"I especially want to thank Stephen Espinoza for all of his help and work to bring Ruslan to Showtime," Pelullo said. "This has been a work in progress, and his tireless efforts and patience in getting this deal done have been greatly appreciated. He has shown a real commitment to Ruslan and Banner Promotions, and this is just the beginning of our relationship in making the best and biggest fights possible for Ruslan."
Pelullo said Provodnikov's deal with Showtime will put him in the mix to fight many of the welterweights and junior welterweights who are with adviser Al Haymon, who has virtually all of Showtime's dates.
"This was the right move for us," Pelullo said. "Ruslan will be in the conversation to fight any of his [Haymon's] guys on Showtime. We'd love to fight [titleholder Adrien] Broner, maybe go back to welterweight to fight Danny Garcia. There's Lamont Peterson. There's the winner of Keith Thurman-Shawn Porter. We have a lot of possibilities at either 140 or 147. We're very happy."