Jeremias Ponce trainer on Subriel Matias: “I never saw a fighter that strong”

By Boxing News - 02/28/2023 - Comments

By Sean Jones: Jeremias Ponce’s trainer Alberto Zacarias was in awe of the brute strength and the iron chin of Subriel Matias last Saturday night, which factored in his decision to pull his fighter out after the fifth round of their battle for the vacant IBF light welterweight title at The Armory in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Zacarias notes that the previously unbeaten Ponce (30-1, 20 KOs), who has weighty punches, couldn’t put a dent on the chin or hurt the body of Matias (19-1, 19 KOs).

Matias walked through Ponce’s best shots to unload on his own very powerful punches, which had him hurt beginning in the second round. Ponce threw 96 punches in round one, but Matias stunned him in round two, and from that point on, it was all downhill for the Argentinian fighter.

Like in the 30-year-old Matias’ two previous fights against Petros Ananyan and Batyrzhan Jukembayev, he took a lot of heavy shots from Ponce, but he showed no signs of being bothered by any of them.

After the contest was over, Matias called out WBC 140-lb champion Regis Prograis, saying he wanted to fight him. Prograis would be a really difficult fight for Matias because he’s got power of his own and good defensive skills.

“I stopped the fight because we needed to stop it. Why would I keep risking my fighter? No, sir. No way,” Zacarias said to Izquierdazo about him needing to pull out his fighter Jeremias Ponce after the fifth round against Subriel Matias last Saturday night in Minneapolis.

Ponce, a body puncher, gambled that he could get to Matias before the powerful Puerto Rican slugger could wear him down with his shots. In hindsight, Ponce should have stayed on the outside and focused on outboxing Matias rather than standing in front of him and going to war.

“There was a difference in power. There was no difference in skills. The fight was close. The real problem is the power advantage that one [Matias] had over the other. When Jeremias punched Matias, and I can assure you that Jeremias has heavy hands, he couldn’t move Matias a bit.

“When Matias landed on Jeremias, he hurt him,” Zacarias continued. “[Matias] is a beast. It was like punching a wall. Jeremias’ hands were bouncing off when he landed on Matias. It is something I had never seen. I never saw a fighter that strong.”

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