Will the WBC force Danny Garcia to fight Matthysse this year?

By Boxing News - 01/22/2013 - Comments

matthysse1By Dan Ambrose: WBC interim light welterweight champion Lucas Matthysse is the mandatory challenger for WBC light welterweight champion Danny Garcia, and he’s hoping that Garcia will finally agree to fight him after the two of them get past their next opponents. Matthysse faces Mike Dallas Jr. this Saturday night on Showtime in Las Vegas, Nevada, and Garcia defends his WBA/WBC light welterweight titles against 35-year-old Zab Judah next month on February 9th in Brooklyn, New York.

Matthysse wants to fight Garcia after the Dallas Jr. fight, but it’s unclear if Garcia will agree to take that fight because his promoter Richard Schaefer of Golden Boy Promotions is talking about having Garcia fight former IBF/WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan after. The Khan fight is a much bigger money bout for Garcia than the Matthysse fight, and it doesn’t take a genius to see that’s going to be the one that Garcia goes after next following his defense against Judah.

The question here is whether or not the World Boxing Council will do their job and either force Garcia to defend his WBC title against Matthysse or strip him of his belt if he refuses to face him. If history is any guide, the WBC will likely let Garcia bypass the dangerous fight for Mattysse and fight Khan.

It’s pretty sad if you’re Matthysse because he’s waiting and waiting for his title shot against Garcia and it’s just not happening.

There’s no way that Golden Boy will let Garcia fight Matthysse in between a fight with Khan because of the huge danger that Matthysse would present to Garcia if that fight went ahead. Golden Boy wants to make the Khan-Garcia fight due to the money it would bring in but if they allow Garcia to fight Matthysse first then he could wreck things by pulling off an upset over Garcia to ruin the chances of a Khan vs. Garcia 2 rematch. I wouldn’t even call it an upset because it’s more even fight at this stage given how good Matthysse has been looking lately.



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