By Dan Ambrose: Now that WBC interim light welterweight champion Lucas Matthysse (33-2, 31 KO’s) blown through yet another opponent and proven himself as arguably the #1 fighter at 140, it’s going to be interesting to see if the World Boxing Council will finally do their job by forcing the WBC 140 pound champion Danny Garcia to fight Matthysse or if they’ll continue to let Garcia pick and choose from the aging veterans of the sport.
Matthysse, 30, is Garcia’s mandatory challenger, and he wants the title shot while he’s still young. Garcia is 24, so if the WBC doesn’t force Garcia to fight Matthysse, we could see Garcia continuing to milk his title with fights the older guys instead of Matthysse.
Garcia is going to have to come up with a good argument after the Judah fight in April for why he can’t face Matthysse. The only way I can see Garcia avoiding Matthysse after the Judah fight is if Garcia is able to get the IBF or WBO light welterweight champions to agree to fight him in a unification bout. If that happens, the WBC will give Garcia permission to bypass Matthysse.
The WBO champion is Juan Manuel Marquez, and he’s not going to waste time fighting Matthysse, not when he’s got a big money rematch with Manny Pacquiao coming up in September. We might see Marquez vacating his WBO strap in the near future rather than defending it against fighters that don’t bring a lot to the table in terms of money and popularity. Garcia will have to look to fight Lamont Peterson, the IBF champ, if he has his mind set on avoiding Matthysse.
Matthysse’s power makes him a really dangerous fighter that the other top guys in the division don’t want to fight. In his fight last Saturday, Matthysse knocked Mike Dallas Jr. out cold with a right hand to the head in the 1st round. That win was very impressive, but it might have scared away the other top fighters because Matthysse is looking too good right now.
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