By Dan Ambrose: After toiling away as a pro for 14 years, Lucas Matthysse (39-4, 36 KOs) finally captured a world title in destroying previously unbeaten #1 WBA Tewa Kiram (38-1, 28 KOs) by a brutal 8th round knockout to win the vacant WBA World welterweight title on Saturday night at The Forum in Inglewood, California.
(Photo Credit: Tom Hogan – Hogan Photos/Golden Boy Promotions)
The official time of the stoppage was a 1:21 of round 8. Tonight’s Matthysse vs. Kiram main event fight was televised on HBO Boxing After Dark. A pretty fight this was not. It was 7 rounds of running, holding and pure spoiling by the Thailand fighter Kiram.
The crowd booed the lack of action in the fight, but you couldn’t blame Matthysse. He was doing his best to chase Kiram around the ring. At times, Matthysse was running after Kiram to try and catch him. When Matthysse could get close, Kiram would grab him in a clinch. Out of frustration, Matthysse continued to throw punches while being held. It’s unclear whether the judges were scoring the rounds based on the punches Matthysse was landing while being held. Kiram wouldn’t punch back during those times because he was so intent on holding Matthysse to make sure he wouldn’t continue to nail him with power shots.
At the time of the stoppage, Boxing News 24 had Matthysse up 7 rounds to 0. It was impossible to give Kiram any rounds, considering that he was running and holding and not letting his hands go. Kiram was landing some shots, but not enough for him to clearly win the rounds. The referee Raul Caiz Jr. warned Kiram to stop holding more than once in the fight, but he didn’t seem capable of fighting without constantly grabbing.
After the fight, Matthysse called out Danny Garcia and Manny Pacquiao. He wants either of those guys.
Matthysse had this to say after the fight:
“I am very happy. He [Kiram] was moving a lot. He is a big guy. He doesn’t punch hard but he was very awkward. I needed to throw more punches until I got him. He was very strong in the clinch. I want Danny Garcia next, or Manny Pacquiao. I let my promoter Mario Arano and Golden Boy to do the work. I want the big fights now.”
Kiram had a big size advantage over Matthysse in the fight. The fight looked like a lightweight fighting a large welterweight. Kiram is big, but he can’t take a punch and he has no heart for standing his ground and actually fighting.
Matthysse, 35, dropped Kiram 2 times in the 8th round. The fight was stopped after knockdown No.2 by referee Raul Caiz Jr. Kiram was on his back and unable to get up after he was stopped for the second time in the round. The knockout punch from Matthysse was a hard jab to the head. Kiram was already hurt from the previous knockdown that had occurred moments before. The was from a left followed by a right from Matthysse. Kiram, 25, barely beat the count on the first knockdown. It was clear after that knockdown that Kiram had little chance of making out of the round.
Kiram tried to survive by nailing Matthysse with his best shots, but he wasn’t going to be denied. Matthysse walked through Kiram’s punches to continue to pelt him with shots. In the final knockdown, Kiram hit Matthysse with a nice chopping right hand. Matthysse instinctively threw a hard jab that Kiram either wasn’t expecting or didn’t have the punch resistance to take the shot. Kiram collapsed in a delayed fashion after getting hit with Matthysse’s left hand. It was hard to believe that Kiram went down from the left hand, because it wasn’t a hard punch, but he clearly was already hurt and unable to stay on his feet.
Kiram tried his best tonight, but all he could do is throw jabs and right hands. That was his entire arsenal. Kiram didn’t use his left hand for power punches in the fight. It was just the right. Initially, Kiram was landing right hands on a fairly routine basis in rounds 1 through 5. However, panic seemed to set in for Kiram in round 6 after he was hit hard by a big right from Matthysse. From that point on, Kiram was running, holding and spoiling to try and survive. One could tell at that point that the end was near, because Kiram looked like he was in the panic mode and preoccupied with only one thought and that was to try and survive anyway he could. The referee was very patient with Kiram in not penalizing him for his holding. The referee could have taken points off because Kiram was no longer trying to win. He was just trying to not get knocked out.
Kiram was landing some nice jabs and occasional right hands, but he wasn’t sitting down on his punches in the way that he needed to because he was always looking to retreat. That seemed to be Kiram’s entire game plan. He was going to force Matthysse to chase him, and when he would catch up to him, he’d grab him in a clinch right away.
With the WBA 147 lb. title in his possession, Matthysse is anxious at fighting Danny Garcia in a rematch. Matthysse lost to Garcia by a 12 round decision 5 years ago in a ugly low blow filled fight. Garcia was hitting Matthysse with low blows all night long and getting away with it. Garcia will be fighting next month against Brandon Rios on February 17 on Showtime Boxing. If Garcia wins the fight, then there’s a chance that he might be interested in facing Matthysse. Garcia wants to face WBA/WBC 147 lb. champion Keith ‘One Time’ Thurman in 2018, so he might choose to take that fight instead.
