By Dallas Orysiuk Danny “Swift” Garcia is considered by fans and some analysts as the best at the light welterweight division. This has been called into question by some, with the name of a fighter from a small Argentinean town chiming in the background. After tonight… we should really call into question the ring magazines rankings, because there is no doubt that Lucas “the Machine” Matthysse is the best fighter in the 140 lb. division.
Lucas Matthysse like his nickname is a machine! He has tremendous KO power in both hands and poses underrated boxing skills. He is patient, disciplined, mixes it up, going upstairs and downstairs, and has a solid chin. He has an impressive resume with a record of 34-2-0 with 32 knockouts.
Even in his two defeats, his power was evident as he knocked down both Judah and Alexander. Matthysse holds impressive victories over Lamont Peterson, Humberto Soto, Ajose Olusegun, and DeMarcus Corley. His two losses came at the hands of world class opposition, Zab Judah and Devon Alexander. However, most do not agree with the results and feel that Matthysse should be undefeated.
Danny Garcia has an impressive record too: 26-0-0 with 16 KO’s. Garcia has victories over Erik Morales (twice), Kendall Holt, Amir Khan and Zab Judah. Garcia is known for his timing, and devastating left hook. There is tremendous hype behind Garcia and due to these impressive victories, there is no question why.
A matchup between Matthysse and Garcia has to happen. They are both the top dogs of the light welterweight division, they are both promoted by Golden Boy and both are carry tremendous momentum. A match-up between these two would be like two freight trains colliding at full speed.
This match-up would be full of action, skillful boxing and hype. Stylistically it would be extremely exciting. To boxing extremists, this match-up is equivalent to Pacquiao versus Mayweather at a lighter weight and probably free to the fans watching at home on television. Golden Boy has proposed a 140 lb. tournament, with the winner of Garcia vs. Judah fighting the winner of Matthysse vs. Peterson. The winner of this high profile showdown would face Amir Khan. Therefore it should be Matthysse vs. Garcia, and then I’d predict Matthysse versus Khan.
Although, After his win over Judah, I could smell the nervousness from the Garcia camp. When asked if he would fight the winner of the Matthysse/Peterson Garcia begun to sweat and stutter, saying he will fight whoever Haymon puts in front of him. He was asked if he would like to fight the winner and Garcia said he just fights, and will let his management and promoters take care of that. If Garcia believes he is the best, like he was signalling to the cameras tonight, he should be calling out and want to face Matthysse. It is clear that he does not.
Even before the fight with Judah he seemed extremely dismissive of Matthysse saying that he is not impressed with him and did not want to fight him. Garcia also predicted Peterson to win, but I don’t think he actually believed that, that was just wishful thinking. Well, let me tell you one thing, after his last few fights, Garcia better be impressed with Matthysse.
I expect Garcia to begin to make excuses, or even look for him to jump to welterweight to avoid this match-up. I expect Golden Boy will be extremely supportive of Garcia’s moves to duck Lucas because they do not want to see their beloved fighter to be demolished by “The Machine”.
I knew a match-up between Mayweather and Garcia would come sometime, but look for it to occur sooner than expected. Mayweather is running out of opposition, so look for Garcia to move up to welterweight and do whatever he can to get a fight with Mayweather. Can you blame him? A loss to Mayweather will pay more and will put less of a blemish on his resume than being destroyed by Matthysse. After the utter destruction of Peterson, I expect Garcia will not sleep well tonight and will be having nightmares of facing Lucas “the Machine” Matthysse.
Comments are closed.