Canelo Alvarez's knockout of James Kirkland is getting major Fight of the Year buzz right now, but the leader in the clubhouse is still Lucas Matthysse's unanimous decision victory over Ruslan "Siberian Rocky" Provodnikov in April.
Matthysse's win was anything but technical; the bout lacked all the pomp and circumstance of "The Fight of the Century" that swallowed up the sport on May 2, but delivered exponentially more explosiveness. Matthysse peppered Provodnikov with flush power punches that would have knocked out most 140-pounders, even elite ones. Instead, Provodnikov ate them, marched forward, and nearly defeated Matthysse. The bout was so good that Provodnikov's promoter Artie Pellulo wants a rematch, and thinks it would do well on pay-per-view.
"I thought it was a great fight. I thought we had at least a draw," Pellulo said. "I also think that we should have a rematch. I've been saying that since the fight. It's a terrific rematch on pay-per-view."
Pellulo thinks an early, accidental head butt that opened up a wound over Provodnikov's eye affected the fight. It was almost stopped, according to Pellulo, until Provodnikov said "You stop this fight if I am on my back. Do not stop this fight."
There is also speculation that both fighters may want to take on other opponents before stepping back into the slaughterhouse with one another. Matthysse is said to want to take a fight in Argentina in front of his countrymen. Pellulo also said that a rematch doesn't have to come right away.
"Time will play out. If we fight next that will play out. I think in a couple of months we will go our separate ways and make a plan. We will see if we take a different fight and then go to that rematch. I understand that Matthysse would like to do a fight in Argentina.
"Oscar [De La Hoya] is looking to do that for him in his home country. So we will figure it out. I think the fans would love that fight and we could do that rematch on pay-per-view."
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