By Allan Fox: Former WBO light welterweight champion Ruslan Provodnikov (24-3, 17 KOs) is excited about the thought of getting inside the ring to face the highly ranked 140lb contender Lucas Matthysse (36-3, 34 KOs) for a fight that could take place on 3/28 if the fight can get negotiated.
Provodnikov is currently training with Freddie Roach at his Wildcard Gym in Los Angeles, California to get ready for his next fight, whether that is against Matthysse or another contender.
It’s important that Provodnikov face a stationary fighter that comes to slug with him, because he was pretty well exposed last June in his loss to Chris Algieri. Provodnikov didn’t have the ability to cut off the ring and force Algieri to fight him in the way that Manny Pacquiao did in his recent fight against Algieri last November.
“This is the type of fight that excites me. I think that this is a 50/50 fight,” said Provodnikov via RingTV.com. “It’s the type of fight that I really like. I know that when I’m in this type of a fight, only one of us will walk out of the ring. I really wanted my team to make this fight possible.”
The Matthysse-Provodnikov fight is being slated for the StubHub Center in Carson, California.
It should be known by the end of this week whether the Matthysse-Provodnikov fight will be taking place or not.
This would be a big disappointment for Provodnikov and his fans if the fight doesn’t get done, because he needs to be facing better opposition in order to build up his fan base in the United States.
In Provodnikov’s last fight, he defended 40-year-old Jose Luis Castillo in a 5th round knockout victory last November. Just what Provodnikov was doing fighting a guy as old and as shot as Castillo is unknown. At 32, Provodnikov is at an advanced age to be still fighting older guys that are over-the-hill.
That’s a fight that would have made sense six years ago when Provodnikov was younger and still finding his way in the professional ranks, but he’s up there in age now and if these are the kinds of opponents he’s going to be facing then he could find it difficult to land the bigger fights.
“This is like the fight that I had with [Mike] Alvarado; this is the type of fight that I had with [Tim] Bradley,” said Provodnikov.
Provodnikov is wrong in comparing Matthysse to Alvarado and Bradley. Matthysse is completely different from either of those guys, and Provodnikov is going to find out quickly how different he is when and if the fight gets made. Matthysse is able to box and punch. He’s not someone who will fold up and quit the way Alvarado did in his loss to Provodnikov.
Matthysse also has a good chin, and he’s going to be looking to fighting smart when he gets in there with him. Bradley didn’t fight smart in the early rounds with Provodnikov by attempting to slug with him. That was a bad idea. If Bradley had simply boxed Provodnikov from the outset, he would have easily won. He won anyway, but it could have been a far easier fight for Bradley.
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