Freddie Roach said that the upcoming bout between Ruslan Provodnikov and Lucas Matthysse was, “The greatest match-up in the world,” despite the mega-fight between Mayweather and Pacquiao taking place a few weeks after.
The Russian Rocky squares off against the Argentine Machine April 18, on HBO, and the fight is expected to keep fans on the edge of their seats all night.
“You’ve got two guys that love to fight, two guys that are great punches,” Roach said. “And it’s the best fight, and the best is what we need. This is what’s going on in boxing right now, and that’s why everything is really happening in boxing bigger than ever at this point because of fights like this.”
Provodnikov (24-3,17 KO) trains under Roach at the Wild Card Gym in Hollywood and has been doing so since 2012. He debuted with Roach in his corner during his epic twelve round fight of the year with Timothy Bradley (31-1-1, 12 KO), a fight he lost by decision.
While Provodnikov is 3-2 (3 KO) in his last five fights, Roach has only worked his corner in the losses to Bradley and Chris Algieri in 2013 and 2014, respectively. Roach will also be absent from Provodnikov’s corner against Matthysse (36-3, 34 KO) as he will be busy preparing Pacquiao.
In his place will be Marvin Somodio, Roach’s assistant trainer, who will be acting as chief second in Provodnikov’s corner for a third time.
“Marvin knows what to do. He’s a very good trainer,” Roach said. “Even in the fight when he went to Denver by himself without me, and they came through. Ruslan will still fight his fight and Marvin will make the adjustments along the way. There will be no problem whatsoever.”
Somodio worked Provodnikov’s corner alone for the first time in October 2013 when the two traveled to Denver to face “Mile-high” Mike Alvarado for the WBO junior welterweight title. Provodnikov stopped Alvarado in ten rounds in front of Alvarado’s hometown to win his first title. Somodio also traveled to Russia at the end of 2014 to back Provodnikov in his latest win against the faded Jose Luis Castillo.
Although Somodio will stand in as chief second come fight night, Roach is still Provodnikov’s head trainer in the gym and has devised a game plan for the fight.
“I think (Prvodnikov’s) a good puncher, but Matthysse is very strong also. I mean, both guys are very dangerous,” Roach said. “I told Ruslan if you hurt this guy, don’t just walk in because he has tremendous power. Don’t let him get lucky.”
The real lucky ones will be the fans watching this fight because it will be every bit of the slugfest that we want Mayweather-Pacquiao to be.
