HBOS Hack Job actually made people think that fight was close.

Was not close at all. Fun fight but one-sided

Totally agree with the TS honestly, and Im not even a fan of Matthysse. I don't give Provo more than 4 or 5 rounds, dont think it was a close fight at all. Can't see how Letterman gave Provo round 3 for god sake. Some rounds Provo was only blocking punches with his face and doing something the last 30 seconds and they gave him the round. I still cant count the number of jabs Provo ate all night. Blocking punches with your face don't make you deserve to win a fight. Also Matthysse was doing a good job at partially blocking punches or rolling with them, while Provo was eating them flush.

The Announcers should stay out of the fuking way and call what the see in he ring for BOTH FIGHTERS! I don't like how guys like Lampley and Kellerman try so hard to make things more Dramatic than they really are They are simply doing the job they are paid to do. Do you expect them to tell viewers "Well, this is so one sided that you may as well change the channel and watch something else. This one is done."? They are there to keep the viewers entertained and watching the fight. If you want really poor commentary, have a listen to SRL on one of the PBC shows. That almost qualifies as stand up comedy it is so far off the mark.

Just stop it haters. Provodnikov won 4 rounds and that's it.

Boxing is scored on around by round basis not by punch count. Some rounds were lopsided for Matthyse but Ruslan clearly won 4, including the last two. Anywhere from 7-5 to 8-4 Lucas was good. A draw would've been a stretch. Why do people keep saying this? Provo was getting rds from people for landing a hard punch or two at the end.

Boxing is scored on around by round basis not by punch count. Some rounds were lopsided for Matthyse but Ruslan clearly won 4, including the last two. Anywhere from 7-5 to 8-4 Lucas was good. A draw would've been a stretch.

there is no way provo won the third round but of course leaderman scored it for him samewith the 10th.

there is no way provo won the third round but of course leaderman scored it for him

... It's true that HBO-TR "crew" would have easily scored it a "draw"... because they score fights round by round with the 10-9 system... But just look at the image bellow: http://www.boxingscene.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=1473&pictureid=13422

Or maybe people who weren't swinging on Matthysse's nuts scored the fight. More people swing off provos nuts then any otherfighter. He's always supposedly earning the draw or win after being thoroughly dismantled.

So only people who idioticlly scored it close actually scored it. This really is lala land. Or maybe people who weren't swinging on Matthysse's nuts scored the fight.

it was a close fight, the only thing wrong with that HBO broadcast was the awfulness of Bernard Hopkins.

I picked Ruslan before the fight and was rooting for him but I agree with last night's decision. I thought a draw or Lucas 7-5 is exactly what it should have been. I agree with other posters who say that if you watched that fight without scoring after each round, then it looks like the judges messed up. Without scoring after each round it seems like Lucas was winning comfortably but with the 10 point scoring system Ruslan was making it a close fight. Ruslan's amazing chin is the reason you guys have a problem when you think about it. Anyone else would have been floored on a lot of those Lucas shots, but Provo didn't go down and that's why he only lost the rounds 10-9 where as almost anyone else would have went down and lost those rounds 10-8.

So only people who idioticlly scored it close actually scored it. This really is lala land.

Most people don't score fights and then are outraged in the end because it doesn't line up with their perception of the fight. Overall Lucas clearly commanded the fight but based on rounds it was close. That's exactly what it is. I had it 7-5 Matthysse. This belief that he dominated the entire fight or won 9 or 10 rounds is simply not true.

I think some of the rounds were close, but Matthysse deserved the win, and combubox rightly reflects that.

I didn't watch the fight on HBO and I thought it was close. I had Lucas up 6-1 after 7 and honestly thought he may stop him. I thought Prov won 8 & 11 clearly, stole 9 & 10 with big punches late in the last 30 seconds, and the last round I had a draw bc I didn't see either guy do much of anything. Final on my card was 115-114 for Matthysse.

HBO was turrible the whole night both broadcasts, the Crawford fight was even worse Dulorme got no credit for anything and all they talked about was Crawford "doing boxing things you know".

The commentary was laughable. You have Lampley calling phantom punches for Provodnikov in the meantime Matthysse is landing 2-3 punch combos at will. Where was all this Provodnikov body punching they kept talking about? They were literally making it up, like Provodnikov is getting outlanded 4-1, lets pretend he is doing really great body work instead of ineffective headhunting. i think it's because matthysse landed so many clean punches that if they called all of them they'd never catch their breath; it's almost as if the novelty wore off. whereas provodnikov's success was more sporadic therefore it seemed like a bigger deal when it happened. it's not conscious bias.

I think they have to sell it because hbo has to sell a product, hbo boxing. And if their product doesn't sell, they don't have jobs. I think that's much more true of Kellerman and even Roy than it is of Lampley. Lampley just gets sucked into a narrative and literally can't see anything else. The main reason for this is that he doesn't do true 'blow by blow'. He spends most of his time doing 'analysis' instead. I know some people don't like Mauro Ranallo, but he is a proper blow by blow commentator. He describes what's actually happening in detail, like all the great commentators do.