Nacho Beristain Not Interested in Juan Manuel Marquez-Ruslan Provodnikov Showdown

Russian champion Ruslan Provodnikov is continuously pushing for a fight against Juan Manuel Marquez, but the Mexican boxer's trainer Nacho Beristain expressed no interest in pitting his fighter against the reigning WBO junior welterweight champion.

In an interview with BoxingScene last weekend Beristain played down Provodnikov's statement that Marquez is afraid of him if the Mexican decides to snub his latest challenge.

The Hall of Fame trainer said that Provodnikov is a good fighter as proven by his recent win against Mike Alvarado and his gutsy performance against Timothy Bradley last year, but Beristain reiterated that the Russian can't sell.

Beristain pointed out that Provodnikov cannot draw good pay-per-view numbers or sell a lot of tickets, which will make it impossible for promoters to give into Marquez's asking price for his next fight.

"Provodnikov is just looking for a way to latch on to someone to make a few dollars, because currently he can't sell. He's in the right in doing so, because at one time we did the same thing, going around and challenging everyone, but if some promoter is interested they are going to have to pay Juan very well," Beristain said.

Provodnikov's manager Vadim Kornilov responded to Beristain's comment in a separate BoxingScene interview, and reiterated that Provodnikov deserves a shot against the Mexican boxing icon.

Kornilov stressed that Provodnikov brings excitement with his all-out approach that earned fight fans' admiration during his brutal showdown with Timothy Bradley last year—an epic 12-round bout that earned Fight of the Year citations.

Kornilov also added that Beristain's comment proves that Marquez's camp is also considering facing Provodnikov, while also reiterating that a Marquez-Provodnikov showdown will outdo the pay-per-view numbers of the Mexican's title fight against Bradley in October last year.

"I'm glad that Nacho came forward and said something. To us that means that they're at least considering the fight. Especially when he said that Ruslan wants to make some money and then concluded with a hint that Marquez would consider the fight if offered the right money. Well, Ruslan is ready to let Marquez make more money and we are pretty sure that this fight will do better in pay-per-view numbers than his fight with Bradley," Kornilov stressed.