This Friday night southpaw Jose “El Nino” Reynoso will make his return to the ring at the Cosmopolitan Resort in Las Vegas, NV. He has been out of action since the end of June of last year, when Ruslan Provodnikov broke his nose in the second round of their fight. It was bad enough that not only was Reynoso unable to continue, but he had to have surgery to repair the damage.

Provodnikov, you might remember, is the man who Timothy Bradley last faced, and who almost put him down and out a number of times. It was obvious that the short, compact Ruslan is strong, something Jose can attest to first hand.

“He is a hard puncher,” Jose told me last week at the Capital Punishment Boxing Club. “He has a lot of power and just keeps coming forward after you. He throws choppy, hard punches.”

Reynoso’s opponent for his comeback is the undefeated Antonio Orozco. Antonio, with 16 wins under his belt, has had a bit of a break as well, though not as long as Jose’s. Orozco has not been in the ring since November of last year. “El Nino” has seen Antonio, since he had been to Capital Punishment to do some sparring with some of the fighters that train there, such as Artemio Reyes.

“I’ve seen him spar at our gym before, but I never paid too much attention. But I’m ready for this fight. I know he’s aggressive, but we’ve been working on a strategy. Come Friday I will win this. It won’t be the first time I beat an undefeated fighter!” But while his focus right now is on this fight, along the way there has been more on his mind. Jose is in between promoters, somewhere we all know is a bad place for a boxer to be. For awhile it seemed as if he would have to go to Mexico to get fights, so he is glad to have a bout scheduled here in the States.

“For different reasons, fights have fallen through. I’m glad I finally got one. I was going to have to go down to Mexico to fight, but I really wanted to stay up here – I live here. I wanted to fight here, so I’m very happy that this fight is in Vegas.”

It was the owner-operator of Capital Punishment, Charlie Perez, who was responsible for getting Reynoso the fight with Orozco. Jose, who has a record of 16-4-1 with 3 KOs, is ready to take back control of his own destiny. The 28-year-old from Riverside has something to prove, and is determined to do so. As he said, he’s beaten undefeated fighters before, and he is looking to do it again.

If you can’t be in Vegas, catch the fight Friday night on FOX Espanol at 7:00.