De La Hoya says Matthysse will move on, no rematch with Provodnikov

By Boxing News - 04/19/2015 - Comments

Matthysse decision's Provodnikov in a warBy Allan Fox: If you were one of the many boxing fans who were looking forward to seeing a rematch between Lucas Matthysse (37-3, 34 KOs) and the “Siberian Rocky” Ruslan Provodnikov (24-4, 17 KOs), you can forget it because the rematch isn’t happening, say Matthysse’s promoter Oscar De La Hoya.

De La Hoya says he’s going to move the 32-year-old Matthysse forward to bigger and possibly better fights in the future rather than putting him back in with the 31-year-old Provodnikov for another fight. This is bad news for boxing fans obviously.

Just what big fights that De La Hoya can get for Matthysse is unclear at this point. De La Hoya says he wants to match Matthysse up against Pacquiao, but for that fight to happen he’s likely going to need to agree to match Matthysse up first against WBO light welterweight champion Terence Crawford, and prove that he can beat him first.

Crawford and Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum is likely going to insist that De La Hoya match Matthysse against Crawford first before he agrees to let him fight Pacquiao at some point in the future. Even then, it’s still not a given for Matthysse because he clearly won’t get a fight against Pacquiao unless he can show that he’s a better fighter than Crawford. If Matthysse runs out of gas after the first two rounds like he did last night against Provodnikov, then Crawford will easily beat Matthysse.

“I said before the fight that Lucas deserves the big names, like Manny Pacquiao,” De La Hoya said via Dan Rafael of ESPN.com. “Right now, we will explore our options. He will take a little break, maybe fight in Argentina.

The Crawford-Matthysse fight won’t be a big fight. It’ll be similar to the Matthysse-Provodnikov fight in terms of the purse that Matthysse receives and the fan interest. Unless De La Hoya can get a guarantee from Arum that Matthysse will get a fight against Pacquiao, it not be in De La Hoya’s best interest to match Matthysse against Crawford.

The last thing De La Hoya needs is for Matthysse to be turned into another Raymundo Beltran and Thomas Dulorme. It might be better for Matthysse to look to angle himself for a title shot against IBF light welterweight champion Lamont Peterson, who he already beat in 2013, or look to challenge for the WBA/WBC 140 pound title once the current champion Danny Garcia vacates the two belts if he ever does.

“I was hitting him [Provodnikov], and hitting him hard, but he’s a rock,” Matthysse said. “He took a lot of hard punches. I even hurt my hand. But he’s a great champion.”

Provodnikov is not a champion; he’s an ex-champion after losing his WBO light welterweight title last year in June of 2014 to Chris Algieri. He is a good fighter with excellent stamina. It could have been an easier fight for Matthysse if he hadn’t gassed out early in the fight and if he’d been able to use movement for 12 rounds to elude Provodnikov. Matthysse’s inability to move around the ring to get away from Provodnikov forced him to trade with him.



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