By Michael Lieberman: Next Friday night on 1/21, previously unbeaten light welterweight knockout artist Lucas Matthysse (27-1, 25 KO’s) will be making his first appearance since losing a 12 round split decision Zab Judah by facing DeMarcus Corley (27-15-1, 22 KO’s) at the Polideportivo Vicente Polimeni, Las eras, Mendoza, Argentina.

This is going to be an interesting fight because Corley and Matthysse both can really punch, and Matthysse is coming off a disappointing defeat to the Judah in November. Matthysse needs to not only beat Corley, but needs to look really impressive if he wants to be mentioned as a future opponent for top light welterweights Timothy Bradley, Devon Alexander, Amir Khan, Victor Ortiz and Marcos Maidana. A big knockout win over Corley will make a huge statement for Matthysse, even though Corley has been beaten in four out of his last five fights.

Corley usually finishes his fight on his feet and gives a halfway decent account of himself in the process of getting beaten. Corley gave Maidana all kinds of problems in losing a 12 round decision in August last year. One of the judges even scored it 115-112 for Maidana, thus showing how closely fought the Maidana – Corley fight was. If Matthysse can come out strong and look better than Maidana by knocking Corley out, it will make boxing fans take notice of Matthysse and give him a push up the rankings.

Matthysse showed great body work in his loss to Judah in November. Instead of getting wild at head hunting, Matthysse focused on throwing to the body and did a great job of weakening Judah for the second half of the fight.