By Ben Jacobs

Mauricio Herrera knows as well as anyone what Lucas Matthysse will be up against Saturday night in Verona, New York. Herrera took Ruslan Provodnikov's unbeaten record back in 2011 but believes the Russian will emerge the victor over his Argentine opponent.

"I favour Ruslan. Matthysse is a great fighter as well, anything can happen in boxing but just by their past fights and how they look I go with Ruslan," Herrera told BoxingScene.com.

"He has the speed, power and shows how hungry he is, he really wants it. I sparred with Matthysse before he fought Danny Garcia and putting the two together I feel that Ruslan is a very hard puncher. Even if you try to box him he can still catch you and hurt you. Look at guys that beat him like me and [Chris] Algieri, you still come out looking like you lost, even [Tim] Bradley."

Herrera is of the opinion that Matthysse could potentially fold due to Provodnikov's power and even sees a stoppage.

"I don’t think Matthysse is a great defensive fighter. Once he feels that power, I don’t know what his game plan is but it's going to shake him up. At the same time Matthysse hits hard as well and Provodnikov swells up pretty quick, he gets cut easily. He has thin skin so if Matthysse wins it could be a stoppage via cuts and bruises. I favour Ruslan to pull it out, even by stoppage. I only went four rounds with Matthysse, it was more boxing him, trying to take away his power. With Ruslan it was 8oz gloves.

"I notice with their styles Matthysse is easier to hit," Mauricio continued.

"When I was fighting Ruslan he was easy to hit too but I noticed his counters are fast. I think I have a fast jab and when I threw it he'd come over real quick with a counter. He's quick with that and has power in both hands. Matthysse's chin is going to get tested. John Molina is not very fast but he put the hurt on Matthysse, it was a war. Then look at Molina with [Adrien] Broner, he couldn’t do anything. Ruslan fought Bradley who is quick and was picking him off all night.

"I want the winner but if it's a close fight they may have a rematch and I'm screwed."