(Photo credit: Stephanie Trapp / SHOWTIME) By Dan Ambrose: #1 WBO, #2 WBC, #3 IBF Lucas Matthysse (35-3, 33 KOs) and #5 WBC Roberto Ortiz (31-1, 24 KOs) have a big opportunity to steal the show on Saturday night on the Adrien Broner vs. Emmanuel Taylor card on Showtime from the U.S Bank in Cincinnati, Ohio. Matthysse and Broner should be fighting each other, but their mutual adviser Al Haymon chose to put them in separate fights.
Either Haymon this in order to build up a fight between Broner and Matthysse for later this year, or he possibly set it up this way to give the appearance they’ll be fighting each other so that more boxing fans show interest in the case. The Matthysse-Ortiz fight at least promises to be an interesting fight.
Ortiz has an unbeaten record and he looks pretty good against the guys that’s faced. Granted, Ortiz hasn’t fought anyway that you can call a good fighter, but that doesn’t mean he won’t be able to give Matthysse problems. We just saw lightweight John Molina give Matthysse all kinds of problems in their fight last April before Matthysse finally figured him out and scored a 11th round knockout.
Broner seems to be interested in the Matthysse fight judging by his comments, and Matthysse of course wants the Broner fight.
It’s going to be up to Haymon whether a fight between Broner and Matthysse take place. If he wants that fight then it’ll happen. But it’s difficult to imagine Haymon choosing to put Broner in with Matthysse rather than taking them on separate routes towards a world title. The looser of the two fights will have a long road back to the top. That’s why it’s hard to believe Haymon would be willing to sacrifice one of these two fighters by having them face each other.
“I’ve prepared myself for this fight; I’m in shape and I’m ready to go,” Matthysse said. “I’m here to win. I hope it’s true [that Broner will be his next opponent] and it’s not just talk like he always talks.”
Matthysse would be a lot of problems for Broner due to his power. Matthysse is similar to Marcos Maidana in the power department, but he’s a much better boxer than Maidana.
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