Lucas Matthysse vs. John Molina Jr on April 26th at StubHub Center, Carson, California

By Boxing News - 03/25/2014 - Comments

matthysse84By Scott Gilfoid: On the same card as the mismatch between Keith Thurman and Julio Diaz, former WBC interim light welterweight champion Lucas Matthysse (34-3, 32 KO’s) will be facing lightweight contender John Molina Jr. (27-3, 22 KO’s) at the StubHub Center, in Carson, California, USA. The reason for this mismatch obviously is to get Matthysse a sure thing win against a fighter that is somewhat known by casual boxing fans.

I must say this card is absolutely horrible. I mean, there are good talents in Matthysse and Thurman on the card, but some god awful matches though. It’s not even sporting to see Thurman fighting Diaz and Matthysse fighting Molina Jr. It’s like stunning someone in the head and sending them out in the ring to try their luck against Matthysse and Thurman. Another nice little mismatch on the card is WBC lightweight champion Omar Figueroa defending his title against Jerry Belmontes in a fight that promises to be over in lightning fashion. Should be fun while it lasts.

Golden Boy doesn’t really have a lot of options in the 140lb division as far as well-known opposition to feed to Matthysse. It had to be someone that the casual boxing fans were familiar with, and Molina is the guy because of the many times he’s been televised on ESPN and other networks in the U.S. Granted, he’s going to get totally destroyed by Matthysse on April 26th, but at least fans will have heard of him.

With that said, Matthysse-Molina Jr. is not a fight that I’d like to see televised on Showtime. It’s too much of a mismatch. Molina Jr. would be good for the guy that Adrien Broner is fighting next, little Carlos Molina. A fight between Molina Jr. and Carlos Molina would be a nice little fight between smaller fighters.

Matthysse lost his last fight to WBA/WBC light welterweight champion Danny Garcia last year on the Floyd Mayweather Jr-Saul “Canelo” Alvarez fight card. It was a good fight, but Matthysse was too limited to make the needed adjustments to beat Garcia. It would have helped if Matthysse had at least had the presence of mind to throw an occasional jab instead of loading up with everything he threw and getting nailed by Garcia’s jabs 24/7.

Molina Jr. has won his last two fights against Jorge Pimentel and Mickey Bey Jr. since his loss to Andrey Klimov last year in June. In 2012, Molina didn’t even make it to the 2nd round against former Adrien Broner victim Antonio DeMarco.



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