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HBO PPV Recap

The Battle of East & West: Pacquiao vs. Hatton

May 2, 2009

MGM Grand-Las Vegas, Nevada

Middleweight (160 pounds) 4-Round Match:

Matvey Korobov (4-0, 4 KO's, 161.5 pounds) vs. Anthony Bartinelli (20-12-2, 13 KO's, 161 pounds)

Korobov had a highly decorated amateur boxing career where he took home the gold medal for his native Russia in the 165-pound division at both 2005 and 2007 World Amateur Championships. The Russian represented his country in the 165-pound division at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympiad, but was upset in the second round.

Following the Olympics, Korobov turned pro and has become one of Top Rank Promotions most highly regarded prospects. With Top Rank there is the potential to do some very big things with the Russian, because they control the belt in this weight class with Kelly Pavlik. Therefore, they have been moving him steadily against opponents with increasing amounts of experience in every match. Korobov' first opponent entered their match having already competed in 2 pro matches. The Russian's second opponent had already done 4 pro matches. Korobov' third opponent had 6 professional matches to their credit before facing him. To keep up the pattern, Korobov' fourth opponent had 8 pro matches before facing the Russian.

Korobov' last match was a technical knockout victory 2:59 into round 4 over Cory Jones at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York.

Korobov is unranked by The Ring and ranked by boxrec.com as the number 258 boxer in the world at 160 pounds.

Bartinelli, who enters this match with 34 professional matches on his resume, does not match the profile of Korobov' usual opponents. There is a reason for this. Bartinelli is coming in as a very late replacement. Rodrigo Aguilar was supposed to play the part of opponent in this match. Aguilar has competed in 9 pro matches and is coming off a knockout loss to Lara.

The Phoenix, Arizona resident is a substantially better opponent for Korobov then Aguilar. Bartinelli has suffered some early knockouts, but he has also been in the ring with legitimate opposition. On June 25, 2002, Bartinelli won a 12-round split decision against Charles Davis to pick up a regional belt at 168 pounds. However, Bartinelli would be knocked out at 1:30 of round 1 by Enrique Ornelas challenging for 2 fringe world titles at 168 pounds on September 21, 2002. Bartinelli's more recent experience against solid opposition was an 8-round unanimous decision loss to Elvin Ayala on Jan 23, 2009 at the Plaza Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.

Bartinelli's last match was an 8-round unanimous decision loss to Albert Onolunose on April 2, 2009 at Michael's Eighth Avenue in Glen Burnie, Maryland.

Bartinelli is unranked by The Ring and ranked by boxrec.com as the number 203 boxer in the world at 168 pounds.

At 26-years-old, Korobov is 3 years younger then the 29-year-old Bartinelli. Both boxers stand 5' 11" tall. Bartinelli has the reach advantage with a 23.5" arm length, compared to the 22.5" arm length of Korobov. Korobov will be the heavier boxer in the ring having unofficially rehydrated to 170 pounds approaching match time. Bartinelli has only unofficially rehydrated to 166 pounds approaching match time. Korobov will employ the southpaw stance and Bartinelli will box out of the orthodox stance.

The Nevada state rules are in effect for this match. The home areas of the judges keeping official score of this match from ringside are not announced. The referee is Robert Byrd.

With 23 seconds to go in round 1, Korobov lands a huge right hook that sends Bartinelli's mouthpiece flying out of his mouth about 30 feet into press row. Bartinelli is still standing, though. Korobov displays big punching power with both hands in winning round 1, 10-9. It is unlikely that Bartinelli finishes round 2 standing. Lederman scores round 1 for Korobov, 10-9. Korobov finishes a combination with a straight left hand to score a knockdown with 2:09 to go in round 2. Bartinelli's eyes looked completely glazed over as he fell back into the ropes and he may not beat the count. Bartinelli is able to stand, and is allowed to continue with 1:56 to go in the round. However, Bartinelli is very unlikely to make it out of this round. Korobov trapped Bartinelli in a corner and forced the referee to move in to stop the match with 47 seconds to go in round 2. It was a good stoppage by the referee.

The official outcome courtesy of Michael Buffer is that at: 2:15 of round 2 the referee has called a stop to this contest making the winner by technical knockout and still undefeated, Matvey Korobov. The win moves Korobov to 5-0 with now 5 wins coming by way of knockout.

The final punchstat numbers have Korobov landing 57 of the 72 power punches he threw, for an astounding 79% power connect percentage. Bartinelli landed only 1 of the 13 power punches he threw, for a poor 8% power connect percentage.

Korobov showed a lot of potential in this match. He has a lot of punching power in both hands. Korobov smartly paced himself after the knockdown and did not punch himself out going for a quick finish. The Russian is tentatively scheduled to box next in an untelevised 4-rounder on the undercard of the Miguel Cotto-Joshua Clottey event on June 13 at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York. Then comeback quickly with another 4-rounder on the undercard of the Kelly Pavlik-Sergio Mora pay-per-view on June 27 from Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Assuming the Russian performs well in both matches, he should start facing better opposition. Of the 2 prospects that have been on this PPV so far, himself and Erislandy Lara, Korobov appears to have a lot more upside.

Bartinelli showed a tremendous ability to take a punch lasting that long against the young Russian. He will now likely to continue playing the role of opponent to rising prospects. Bartinelli is a good boxer to showcase young talent against on ESPN events. He can probably do that for years.

The undercard of this PPV was dreadful.