Matthysse Decisions Provodnikov In Brutal Slugfest

 Matthysse Decisions Provodnikov In Brutal Slugfest

It was a fight that definitely lived up to the pre-fight hype and was every inch of the shoot out it was predicted to be before hand.

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It was a dream match up for fight fans that had plenty of bombs, blood and guts, all be it with Ruslan Provodnikov on the receiving end of a lot of it.

The fight started off with Lucas Matthysse using his boxing skills and ring generalship to land almost at will on Ruslan, who early on suffered a bad cut above his left eye.

This was only made worst as the fight went on, with Matthysse landing beautiful uppercuts, short right hands and scoring consistently on the outside.

As the fight progressed into the mid rounds Matthysse moved away more from his boxing and began standing and trading with Provodnikov more, which gave Ruslan some success at times, but no where near as much as his Argentinian opponent early on.

Lucas was put under pressure by Ruslan at times in the middle rounds but continued to beat the Russian to the punch with Provodnikov displaying very little head movement, jabs or defense.

Provodnikov’s left eye really started to look grotesque as the fight progressed, while Matthysse barely had a scratch on his face. Despite this, Ruslan showed incredible heart and arguably one of the best chins in the business, to keep marching forward remarkably unfazed from the huge punishment he was shipping.

Provodnikov had some decent success in the 9th, particularly a left hook he landed towards the end of the round when both combatants exchanged in a furious flurry of combinations. He had some more success in the tenth with a big left hook on Matthysse but the Argentinian was still out boxing Ruslan slightly in my opinion.

Ruslan hurt Lucas in the 11th with a fairly substantial hook and momentum was moving in the Russian’s favor. Provodnikov continued to surge forward in the final two rounds but was too far behind on the score cards to over come the early deficit in my estimation.

Going into the final round Provodnikov’s corner urged him to let his hands go and as the two warriors came out for the final ground, the onlooking audience let out a massive roar of appreciation.

The fight proved to probably be one of the most disciplined of Lucas Matthysse’s career. He stuck to his boxing for the most part, which was the difference on the night.

Provodnikov’s incredible bravery and come forward aggression wasn’t enough to get him a decision but was more than enough to entertain the lucky fans in attendance and watching around the world.

A terrific battle between two former champions who put it all on the line, which was rightly rewarded with a rapturous applause at the end.

A blood and guts fight, mixed with quality technical boxing in patches. I thought Matthysse won the fight by four rounds, after starting like a train and Provodnikov closing the gap and coming back at him more in the second half of the contest.

In the end the official scorecards read 114-114 a draw, 115-113 and 115-113 for the winner by majority decision Lucas Matthysse.

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