By Steve Kim

Despite some reports to the contrary, a highly anticipated slugfest at junior welterweight between Ruslan Provodnikov and Lucas Matthysse, targeted for March 28th, has not been finalized just yet but Artie Pelullo of Banner Promotions (which handles Provodnikov) is very optimistic this will come to fruition.

"The latest is that I'm working on Ruslan fighting Matthysse, Golden Boy (Promotions) and I are all on the same page and by Tuesday HBO will have to make me an offer, then I can go over to a third party and then get another offer and HBO will have three days after that to match," he explained to BoxingScene.com.

A Provodnikov-Matthysse fight would be a 'cant-miss' for hard-core boxing fans, both are aggressive bangers that aren't afraid to mix it up.

As for where this bout would take place, the StubHub Center in Carson seems to be a natural fit given it's history of hosting memorable fights.

"We have it on hold," said Pelullo to BoxingScene on Monday afternoon. 'But we're also talking to Las Vegas and we're also talking to Atlantic City and Oscar and Eric are working on Atlantic City, directly."

Steve Kim is the news editor for BoxingScene.com.