by Victor Salazar

Lucas Matthysse may have fought the fight of his career this past weekend against Ruslan Provodnikov. Matthysse controlled distance, moved when needed, and did the best he could to smother Provodnikov when he was able to get inside.

Matthysse said that he and his team studied Provodnikov’s fight with Chris Algieri and game planned around the success of Algieri

“That’s one of the fights I studied closely and one of the fights I saw,” Matthysse said regarding his preparation. “He (Algieri) moved and gave him (Provodnikov) trouble. I get tired in the last 3 rounds I moved so much. I got tired. I won most of the rounds by boxing.”

Though he did well boxing, Matthysse delivered powerful shots to Provodnikov, mixing combinations leading with a jaw, thunderous hooks, and shooting the uppercut landing when he wanted it to Matthysse. But he did get some fire back and was hurt in the 11th, a storm Matthysse weathered.

“He hurt me but I was able to withstand the onslaught,” Matthysse said of the 11th round. “He’s a very tough fighter, he kept coming forward no matter what I threw at him. I know it was going to be a great fight and it should be fight of the year.”