Matthysse goes for WBC interim 140 lb title against Olusegun on September 22nd

By Jason Kim: 29-year-old Lucas Matthysse (31-3, 29 KO’s) will be looking to put himself in line for a title shot when he faces unbeaten Ajose Olusegun (30-0, 14 KO’s) for the vacant WBC interim light welterweight title on September 22nd in San Antonio, Texas.

Matthysse missed out on a big chance to fight for the vacant WBC light welterweight title last year against Erik Morales when Matthysse developed the flu and had to drop out of the fight. Matthysse has worked his way back since missing that chance by winning his last three fights which included a big 5th round stoppage of former WBC lightweight champion Humberto Soto last June.

Matthysse can’t blow it this time because if he can’t afford to get sick, injured or get beaten again if he wants to get a shot against WBC 140 pound champion Danny Garcia in the near future. Garcia has a fight coming up against Morales in October and that’s not going to be much of a fight for Garcia. He’ll be available for Matthysse if he can get past the 32-year-old Olusegun.

It’s hard to tell much about Olusegun, because he’s not really faced quality opposition during his 11 year pro career. Olusegun’s best wins have come against Nigel Wright, Colin Lynes and Ali Chebah. In other words, Olusegun has faced little more than 2nd tier opposition his entire career. He does seem to have decent power and he does throw a lot of punches. We know that. But we don’t know how good he is or how good his chin is, because the guys that he’s faced haven’t been big punchers.

It’s hard to believe that Olusegun has hung around the sport his long and the best guys he’s fought has been domestic level opposition. On September 22nd, Olusegun will be taking a huge step up in class against Matthysse and it’s going to be a big test to see if he can handle that big step.