Matthysse not getting Pacquiao fight now

By Boxing News - 10/04/2015 - Comments

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By Dan Ambrose: It’s safe to say that Lucas Matthysse (37-4, 34 KOs) is no longer in the running for a fight against former eight division world champion Manny Pacquiao (57-6-2, 38 KOs) after Matthysse’s 10th round knockout loss to newly crowned WBC light welterweight champion Viktor Postol (28-0, 12 KOs) last Saturday night in their fight for the vacant WBA 140lb title on HBO Championship Boxing from the StubHub Center in Carson, California.

Matthysse needed an impressive win to keep alive his slim hopes for a fight against the 36-year-old Filipino Pacquiao, but he failed to do that. The loss for Matthysse means that he’ll certainly not be considered for the fight against Pacquiao unless Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum wants to match him against a fighter coming off of a loss.

We’ve seen Arum do that a couple of times in the past for Pacquiao in putting him in with Brandon Rios and Joshua Clottey after those two fighters had lost their previous fights. However, those guys hadn’t been knocked out in their defeats. They were merely outpointed. Arum would make Pacquiao look bad if he matched him against Matthysse at this point.

Matthysse’s loss helps Amir Khan’s chances of getting the Pacquiao fight, because Matthysse was considered to be one of the leading candidates to get the Pacquiao fight before his defeat to Postol. But with the loss, it puts Khan in prime position to get the fight.

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The other possible candidates for the Pacquiao fight is Juan Manuel Marquez, Terence Crawford and Kell Brook. Marquez isn’t a serious candidate because he’s already said he’s not interested. Arum would be making a big mistake if he selected Brook or Crawford for Pacquiao to fight because neither of them have a big enough fan base in the United States for it to be a worthwhile fight.

Khan doesn’t have a fan base either, but he does have a large UK fan base and Arum and Pacquiao could likely share in the UK pay-per-view money that Khan generates.

Postol knocked Matthysse down with a right hand while he was charging forward in the 10th round. It wasn’t a big punch, but Matthysse stayed down because he said his left eye hurt from the impact from the punch. He wasn’t sure if it was damaged internally, so he stayed down and was counted out at 2:58 of the 10th round by referee Jack Reiss.

“I felt comfortable with the pace of the fight,” said Lucas Matthysse. “I also feel that I had dominated a few rounds and we were even in the cards. But, he got me with that right cross and hit my left eye. I felt there was damage to my eye and I also didn’t feel my body. The pain was instant and I knew I had to stop because I wasn’t sure what my eye looked like. But, fortunately nothing happened. My team tells me that it looks good. But, Postol is not the best yet.”

The loss for Matthysse puts him back a step in his dreams of becoming a world champion at 140. Matthysse will need to go after one of the other light welterweight champions like WBA champion Adrien Broner or IBF champ Cesar Cuenca (48-0, 2 KOs).

The easier option for Matthysse would be for him to go after Cuenca, because he doesn’t have the size or the power that Browner possesses. It wouldn’t be a good fight for Matthysse to go after Broner at this point. Even Cuenca might be a problem because he’s a hit a move boxer, and he won’t be easy for Matthysse to get to, even though he’s not very tall.

The 5’6 ½” Matthysse shouldn’t move up in weight to the welterweight division because he’s too short to fight at welterweight, and he’d be taken advantage of if he were to move up in weight. Matthysse would be better off if he were to move down to lightweight, where his lack of size wouldn’t hinder him nearly as much.

If Matthysse would be a handful for lightweight champions Terry Flanagan, Jorge Linares, and Darleys Perez. I’m not sure if Matthysse could beat all of those guys, but my guess is he could beat at least two of them.

The money might not be as good as it is at light welterweight, but Matthysse would at least have a chance of winning a world title without losing like we’ve seen from him. Matthysse’s loss to Postol was his second failure at attempting to win a world title at 140. His previous loss came to former WBA/WBC light welterweight champion Danny Garcia in 2013.



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