By Luke Furman

Last Friday night in Moscow, former champion Ruslan Provodnikov (24-3, 17 KOs) battered 40-year-old veteran Jose Luis Castillo (66-13-1, 57 KOs) for a fifth round stoppage. Castillo, a former WBC lightweight champion, was broken down round after round until he went down twice in the fifth and the fight was wisely waved off by the referee.

According to his promoter Artie Pelullo, who spoke with Russian media outlets following the contest, Provodnikov's next fight will take place in the United States and back on American network television. The current target date if March 28th on HBO.

"Ruslan will now fight in the United States. It's probably going to happen on March 28 on HBO. As for the opponent, we'd consider Marcos Maidana, Danny Garcia and Lucas Matthysse," Pelullo said.

The fight with Castillo was Provodnikov's first fight back after suffering an upset split decision loss to Chris Algieri in June.

Luke Furman covers boxing for bokser.org.