By Dan Ambrose: #2 WBC, #2 WBO, #3 IBF light welterweight contender Lucas Matthysse (36-3, 34 KOs) will be fighting several more fights at 140 before moving up in weight to the 147 pound division to challenge the top fighters in that weight class, says Golden Boy Promotions president Oscar De La Hoya.

Matthysse, 32, just finished signing a 5-year contract extension with Golden Boy Promotions that is expected to take Matthysse all the way to retirement. It was a surprise move by the Argentinian because it was thought that he would on after his contract expired with Golden Boy to sign up with another promotional company.

“Lucas Matthysse will have a few more fights at 140 pounds and then he wants to go up to 147,” De La Hoya said via Dan Rafael of ESPN.com. We’ll continue to bring him the best fights possible. He is willing to fight anybody, unlike a lot of fighters.”

Matthysse’s next opponent could be former WBO light welterweight champion Ruslan Provodnikov if they can get the fight put together. They’re looking to bring Matthysse back in March with or without Provodnikov. This would be a make or break fight for Matthysse, because he can’t afford another loss like the one he experienced two years ago in his disappointing 12 round decision loss to Danny Garcia.

Matthysse failed to use his jab in that fight, and he had problems with the clinching, low blows and the running that Garcia did. The referee Tony Weeks did little to address Garcia’s clinching and low blows, but it was on Matthysse for failing to use his jab in the fight or head movement.

The good news for Matthysse is that Provodnikov doesn’t run, hold and throw low blows the way Garcia did in their fight, and he’s not likely to stoop to such measures in order to win a fight.

If Provodnikov doesn’t have the talent to beat Matthysse, then you’re not going to see him hitting him with repeated low blows, holding constantly and running around the ring in the second half of the fight to stall out the action like Danny Garcia did when he fought Matthysse. It’ll be a straight up fight where the best many wins on talent rather than tricks to stop the action.

It is a surprise that Golden Boy Promotions were able to re-sign Matthysse because it was expected by some boxing fans that he would move on once his contract was up.

Matthysse is coming off of a 2nd round stoppage win over Roberto Ortiz in September of last year, and before that he defeated John Molina by an 11th round knockout last year in April.