Matthysse-Provodnikov peaks at 1.38M viewers on HBO

By Boxing News - 04/21/2015 - Comments

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By Dan Ambrose: In what could be the fight of the year for 2015, #2 WBC, #3 WBO light welterweight contender Lucas Matthysse (37-3, 34 KOs) and #4 WBO Ruslan Provodnikov (24-4, 17 KOs) saw their exciting fight draw a peak of 1.380 million viewers in their fight on HBO Championship Boxing last Saturday night from the Turning Stone Resort & Casino, in Verona, New York, USA.

In the co-feature bout, unbeaten #1 WBO 140lb contender Terence Crawford (26-0, 18 KOs) – Thomas Dulorme (22-2, 14 KOs) saw their fight bring in a peak of 1.084 million viewers.

“Matthysse-Provodnikov averaged 1.243M on HBO (peak 1.380M). #Crawford-Dulorme averaged 1.004M (peak 1.084M). Broadcast averaged 1.037M (more),” Dan Rafael of ESPN said on his twitter.

These ratings a considerably higher than the competing broadcast on Showtime headlined by Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. vs. Andrzej Fonfara. The reason in part for this is due to HBO’s larger subscriber base, but I think also a major reason for the larger numbers for HBO is because of the Matthysse-Provodnikov fight being a better overall fight on paper.

Matthysse and Provodnikov have also been more active than Chavez Jr. in the past three years, and that obviously helps.

Matthysse got the win over Provodnikov by a 12 round majority decision by the scores 114-114, 115-113 and 115-113. It was pretty close towards the end of the fight. What was surprising was how Provodnikov, who resembled a punching bag in the first seven rounds of the fight, was able to turn things around from rounds eight through twelve.

provodnikov63Matthysse says he hurt one of his hands in the 6th round, but it looked more like a case of him just being gassed out from the heavy pressure that Provodnikov put on him. Provodnikov was missing a lot of his punches, but the ones that connected got Matthysse’s attention, especially in the 11th when Provodnikov hurt Matthysse with a right hand.

“He was the better man tonight. He’s the hardest puncher that I’ve fought,” Provodnikov said after the fight. “I wanted to win the fight no matter what. I just fight to the end. Every time I come into the ring, I tell my trainer never to stop the fight. The only way the fight would be stopped is if I’m on my back. All other times I fight.”

Provodniov’s face looked badly reddened, swollen and cut from the force of Matthysse’s huge shots. Most of the damage to Provodnikov’s face took place in the first two rounds when Matthysse was at his strongest. Provodnikov suffered a cut over his left eye from a clash of heads, and the cut steadily worsened as the rounds went by. Provodnikov was fortunate that he didn’t suffer any additional cuts because that would have made it nearly impossible for him to see properly.

“I was hitting him, 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.”

It was definitely an exciting fight to watch, and it would be interesting if a rematch could take place between these two warriors. However, Matthysse’s promoter Oscar De La Hoya ruled out any rematch, saying that he’s going to look for some big fights to put him. Matthysse mentioned Floyd Mayweather Jr. or Manny Pacquiao as two guys he’d like to fight next.



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