Lucas Matthysse vs. Silverio Ortiz on January 20th for vacant WBC Latino light welterweight title

By Eric Thomas: Light welterweight contender Lucas Matthysse (29-2, 27 Ko’s) will be fighting little known Mexican fighter Silverio Ortiz (23-13, 11 KO’s) on January 20th for the vacant World Boxing Council (WBC) Latino light welterweight title at the Nuevo Palacio Aurinegro, Puerto Madryn, Chubut, Argentina in a scheduled 12 round bout.

Matthysse, #5 WBC, #6 WBO, #11 IBF, is still looking to get back in the thick of things after losing to highly questionable fights in the past two years against Zab Judah and Devon Alexander. Matthysse bounced back from those defeats in his last bout, beating Sergio Omar Priotti (25-11-1, 8 KOs) by a 4th round TKO last month.

Matthysse doesn’t appear ready to start facing top tier opposition after being burned badly by the Judah and Alexander fights. Matthysse’s losses were partly his fault by agreeing to fight Judah and Alexander in venues that favored those fighters. Had Matthysse said no to those fights or pushed for a neutral venue, he likely would have won both of those bouts and would be still undefeated today.

Matthysse had a chance to fight for the vacant WBC light welterweight title last September against 35-year-old Erik Morales, but Matthysse become ill the week before the fight and had to pull out. Barring another questionable decision, Matthysse likely would have won that fight and would be champion today.

2011 and 2010 were clearly bad years for Matthysse, but he’s got to learn from these experiences. If he wants to fight against well-known fighters, he needs to fight in neutral venues and he also needs to start a lot faster than he did in both of those fights. Matthysse gave away the early rounds in both fights and that made things tougher on him. He now needs to stop fighting 2nd tier opposition and get back to fighting quality guys if he wants to get a title shot. Fighting journeyman in Argentina is a waste of time for Matthysse.

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