Lucas Matthysse defeated John Molina Jr. in April in a Fight of the Year candidate that saw four knockdowns and lots of blood. Matthysse went on to knock out previously undefeated Roberto Ortiz in Round 2 of an undercard fight for Adrien Broner's victory over Emmanuel Taylor in September.
Because boxing doesn't always make sense, though, Broner is going to be helping "Premier Champions Boxing" debut on NBC in March by taking on Molina, not Matthysse, despite calling out the latter before and after his Taylor win.
Matthysse hasn't complained about the slight, claiming he'd rather focus on attaining belts like the vacant WBO title. He also may be getting another crowd-pleaser if Golden Boy president Oscar De La Hoya gets his way.
Ruslan Provodnikov, who hasn't been seen on American television since losing a controversial title fight to Chris Algieri, could be the next opponent for "The Machine" Matthysse in what promises to be an epic brawl.
"When I tell you I want to make the best fights, this is the kind of fight I'm talking about," De La Hoya said. "This is what I am committed to do at Golden Boy. This is a 50-50 fight. Either guy could win. But it's a fight that could be the Fight of the Year times three."
Matthysse has expressed a desire to chase the vacant WBO title since his rematch with Danny Garcia has been denied, with Garcia plotting an imminent move to welterweight, and Broner being both title-less and uninterested in facing him.
Chris Algieri vacated his WBO title to fight Manny Pacquiao for the WBO welterweight belt, but remains the top-ranked fighter in the class by the WBO. Matthysse and Provodnikov are ranked No. 2 and No. 3 respectively, so a bout could be treated as an eliminator with the winner facing Algieri for the vacated belt.
[Yahoo!]
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