By 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.
By Dan Ambrose: It looks like #2 WBC, #3 WBO 140 pound contender Lucas Matthysse (37-3, 34 KOs) is looking for bigger game than newly crowned WBO light welterweight champion Terence Crawford now that Matthysse has gotten past Ruslan Provodnikov (24-4, 17 KOs) in their 12 round war last Saturday night in Verona, New York.
Matthysse, 32, says he wants to fight the winner of the May 2nd mega-fight between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao. Matthysse is aiming high for the biggest fights possible if he can get them. The question is will Mayweather and Pacquiao be interested in fighting Matthysse?
By Robert Earl Stanton: After the final round not only did HBO’s unofficial judge Harold Lederman have the Lucas Matthysse vs. Ruslan Provodnikov fight scored 114-114, it was said people started tweeting the same.
If you looked at the two boxers it would seem hard to believe. Matthysse, being held up, Argentina fans cheering in victory, and for most of the fight, Ruslan Provodnikov, a crimson mask.
By Dan Ambrose: #3 WBO light welterweight contender Lucas Matthysse (37-3, 34 KOs) squeaked out a narrow 12 round majority decision over #4 WBO Ruslan Provodnikov (24-4, 17 KOs) on Saturday night at the Turning Stone Resort & Casino, in Verona, New York, USA. The final judges’ scores were 114-114, 115-113, and 115-113.
Matthysse turned Provodnikov’s face into hamburger in the fight after starting off quickly in the first two rounds. Provodnikov came back and fought well in rounds 3-4, 8-9 and 11-12. I thought he fought well enough to get a draw out of the fight, but two of the judges felt otherwise.
(Photo credit: Emily Harney – Hoganphotos/Golden Boy Promotions) By Daniel Reed: Tonight, on the day of Saturday, April 18th, only mere hours away, boxing fans across the world could possibly be treated to something special and unique taking place in the Turning Stone Arena, Verona, New York. Two fighters in the Super-Lightweight division who prefer to talk with their fists and are old-school warriors to the core will be laying it all on the line tonight.
From different corners of the world but with the same attitude, you may come close to being able to predict what may happen but the truth is nobody knows exactly what will transpire tonight, that is because this fight is a true 50/50 fight, and the number of possible outcomes leave only one thing certain, there will be fireworks.
(Photo credit: Ed Mulholland/HBO) By Dan Ambrose: #3 WBO light welterweight contender Lucas Matthysse (36-3, 34 KOs) successfully weighed in on Friday for his fight against #4 WBO Ruslan Provodnikov (24-3, 17 KOs) on Saturday night on HBO Championship Boxing from the Turning Stone Resort & Casino, in Verona, New York, USA. Matthysse weighed in at 139 and Provodnikov came in at 139.5.
Matthysse, 32, is considered to be the favorite over Provodnikov in the minds of a lot of boxing fans. The reason for this is his ability to box as well punch. Matthysse can do it all when he wants to. He’ll likely not stand in front of Provodnikov and slug with him all night long due to the danger involved.
(Photo credit: Golden Boy Promotions) By Gerardo Granados: A friend of mine asked me if there is any good fight to watch this weekend, so I told him he better not miss the Ruslan Provodnikov vs. Lucas Matthysse fight this Saturday night on April 18th at the Turning Stone Resort & Casino, in Verona, New York, USA. He replied that if I knew if the Terence Crawford fight against Thomas Dulorme was going to be aired on Saturday, then he said that he saw a great highlight video of Terence so he was going to watch him fight against a guy he couldn’t recall his name but the announcer said was a great boxer.
Both Provodnikov and Matthysse have a fan friendly boxing style to please the crowd and it is very difficult that this bout will disappoint fight fans around the world. Do the readers think that the Murphy laws can disagree when the Ruslan Provodnikov vs Tim Bradley fight was awarded the fight of the year by both Boxingnews24 and The Ring Magazine in 2013; and the Lucas Matthysse vs John Molina was a nominee by Boxingnews24 and the winner for The Ring Magazine in 2014.
By Dan Ambrose: Top Rank promoter Bob Arum is saying that the winner of this Saturday’s two fights between former WBO lightweight champion Terence Crawford (25-0, 17 KOs) vs. Thomas Dulorme (22-1, 14 KOs) and Lucas Matthysse (36-3, 34 KOs) vs. Ruslan Provodnikov (24-3, 17 KOs) could face each other. Both fights will be televised on HBO Championship Boxing as a split site double-header this Saturday night.
Crawford and Dulorme will be fighting for the vacant WBO 140 pound title at the University of Texas, in Arlington, Texas, USA. The Matthysse-Provodnikov fight will be taking place at the Turning Stone Resort & Casino, in Verona, New York, USA. Both fights will be 12 rounds.
There’s been a bit of controversy surrounding the news that Crawford-Dulorme will be fighting for the vacant WBO 140 pound title because the World Boxing Organization immediately elevated Crawford to the No.1 spot in the WBO’s 140 pound rankings recently after Crawford vacated his WBO 135 pound title. Crawford didn’t have to face anyone at 140 in order to pick up rank to get into position to fight for the vacant WBO light welterweight title.