(Photo Credit: Hogan Photos/Golden Boy Promotions) By Dan Ambrose: After having failed in his previous attempt to capture a world title two years ago in a 12 round decision loss to former WBA/WBC 140lb champion Danny Garcia, #2 WBC Lucas Matthysse (37-3, 34 KOs) will be back in the ring this Saturday night to face unbeaten #1 WBC Viktor Postol (27-0, 11 KOs) in a fight for the vacant WBC light welterweight title on HBO from the StubHub Center, in Carson, California.
Matthysse plans on turning the fight into a war whether the 31-year-old Postol wants it to be or not. Matthysse is going to make Postol fight the type of fight that he’s not used to and isn’t equipped for by getting into punching range and bombarding the light hitting Ukrainian all night long.
You can make an argument that the World Boxing Council is making a mistake by having the inexperienced Postol ranked above Matthysse in their rankings. It’s nice that Postol is undefeated, but the fact of the matter is he’s beaten nothing but fluff opposition his entire career and he has no experience against talented fighters in the 140lb division.
The best fighter that Postol has faced thus far is Hank Lundy, and that’s just not good enough for him to be considered a higher ranked fighter than Matthysse in my book. Matthysse will obviously be looking to show the WBC that they made a mistake with their rankings on Saturday by looking to destroy Postol as fast as possible.
“I’m very excited. Can’t wait. Very happy to come back to Carson, fighting at the StubHub. We worked very hard. We’re very well prepared and we’re coming. We’re coming like always to give war,” Matthysse said via Fight News.
Postol will be trying to use his boxing skills and his game plan given to him by his trainer Freddie Roach to keep Matthysse from landing his power shots. But unless Postol is going to try and run around the ring all night long, he’s going to have to stand and trade quite frequently in this fight. I don’t think it would work anyway for Postol to try and run.
Matthysse is too good at cutting off the ring on his opponents for Postol to be able to get away from him all night long. It’s not a plan that will work anyway for Postol to be able to win. The judges usually don’t give rounds to fighters that are running and holding all night long.
This isn’t the amateur system where fighters are rewarded by hitting and running. In the pros, you need to be able to stand and fight enough to win rounds, and I’m not sure that Postol will be able to do that with the game plan that Roach will have for him on Saturday night.
“I’ve been waiting for the opportunity for a very long time. I’ve been getting ready for this fight like no other,” Postol said. “I’ve had a great camp. Training in Hollywood for the last two years, I’ve sparred with Manny Pacquiao and many other great fighters coming out of the Wild Card Gym. I have all the experience now that a lot of people might underestimate. I’ve been in there with the best and I’m ready to fight the best.”
Postol looked good in beating Selcuk Aydin by an 11th round knockout last year in May 2014, but that was against a very limited fighter who wasn’t letting his hands go with regularity. Aydin was throwing one punch at a time and not doing what he needed to in order to beat a fighter like Postol.
Matthysse will make a lot harder for Postol to hit and run in this fight, because he’s going to be cornering him and nailing him before he can get away. I don’t think clinching will work for Postol either because Matthysse will likely be ready to fight out of the clinches to keep nailing him with shots.
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