Shohjahon Ergashev (23-0, 20 KOs) is going to have to get to IBF light welterweight champion Subriel Matias (19-1, 19 KOs) to try and knock him out on November 25th in their fight on Showtime PPV.
The 31-year-old southpaw Ergashev hasn’t faced the same level of opposition as the powerful Puerto Rican native Matias; it’s going to be a big step up for the Uzbekistan native in their fight on the David Benavidez vs. Demetrius Andrade card at the Michelob Ultra Arena in Las Vegas.
Tim Bradley is high on Matias, viewing him as #1 in the 140-lb division. He’s the favorite in this fight and is the better puncher on paper. Matias has won his last three fights since losing to Petros Ananyan, and he’s looking unstoppable right now.
Subriel Matias’ advantages:
- Power
- Experience
- Stamina
- Toughness
What Matias has going against him against Ergashev is his defense and his boxing skills. Ergashev is the better boxer, and he can be hard to hit when he’s focusing on being elusive.
Surprisingly, a lot of boxing fans don’t rate Matias, noting that he’s easy to hit and that he’s been buzzed before in his fights. He’s very good right now, and you’d have to pick him over the top guys at 140, like Teofimo Lopez, Ryan Garcia, Regis Prograis, and Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero.
Ergashev hadn’t fought in over a year when he stopped little-known Angel Martinez Hernandez in the fifth round in a showcase fight.
Ergashev has power to hurt Matias
“There are going to be fireworks all night on this, absolutely. Y’all need to put some respect on my guy’s name,” said Tim Bradley to ProBox TV, talking about IBF light welterweight champion Subriel Matias in his title defense against Shohjahon Ergashev on November 25th on Showtime PPV.
“This is a guy [Matias] that has been shot twice in his back, stabbed and is still here to talk about it today. This is a guy that went through something pretty traumatic inside the ring. Rest in peace [Maxim] Dadashev, and come back and is OK,” said Bradley.
Maxim Dadeshaev died after his grueling battle against Matias in 2019, which Subriel won by an eleventh round stoppage. As Bradley points out, Matias came back from the fight “ok’ and he’s been able to perform without looking shell-shocked from the experience.
“This dude is a killer, and if you don’t knock him out, good luck in trying to stop him,” said Bradley about Matias. “This dude is like an avalanche. He just comes, he comes, and he comes, and he’s gotten better.
“Yes, he’s lost, but he’s gotten better from his loss too, and that makes him even more dangerous because how you come back from a loss, that’s extremely important, and he’s shown and grown in areas where he believes in himself and understands what he’s capable of doing and Ergashev, he deserves respect. He does, and he has the punching power to probably hurt Matias,” said Tim.
Matias looked very impressive in his last fight, stopping previously unbeaten Jeremias Ponce (30-1, 20 KOs) in the fifth round last February in Minnesota.
Going onto that fight, many boxing fans were picking Ponce to defeat Matias, but he proved to be no match for him. Matias walked through everything Ponce threw, wore him down, and stopped him in the fifth.
“It’s going to be who can catch who first and who can take the punch better than the other one. My money is on Matias,” said Bradley.
“We might be talking about both of these guys after the fight. This is one of where we recently had a ‘who’s the man’ at 140 pounds, and didn’t mention either of these guys,” said Paulie Malignaggi.
“I think this is a fight where, after watching it, we could wind up probably discussing both of these guys fighters as top-level fighters. 140 lbs is turning into a pretty fun weight class as more guys join the fray.”
Matias has an edge over Ergashev
“This is one of those sleeper fights. It seems like it’s fireworks from the opening bell with the way these guys fight,” said Chris Algieri on the Matias vs. Ergachev clash. “Ergashev, he has a great record with 23-0 with 20 knockouts, but he hasn’t seen the same level of competition as Matias has.”
The Benavidez vs. Andrade fight has gotten all the attention for the November 25th card, causing fans to be oblivious to the exciting match-up between Matias & Egashev.
This match-up might turn out to be more entertaining than the Benavidez-Andrade and the co-feature bout between Jermall Charlo vs. Jose Benavidez Jr.
“This fight is going to be really telling if he can do it at the highest level, and if he does do it and he’s able to get past Matias, we have another major player at 140, but either way, both of these guys are going to come out of this fight in a big way, especially the winner obviously,” said Algieri.
“If it’s a good fight, we’ll be talking about both guys. I would lean towards Matias based on the guys he’s been in the ring with. I haven’t seen enough of Ergashev against these top-level guys, but either way, you never know. You never know until you know,” said Algieri.
If Ergashev can use his boxing skills and avoid getting caught into a brawl with Matias, he’s got a shot at winning this fight.
Ergashev’s advantages:
- Punch output
- Hand speed
- Technical skills
“Ergashev might be that dude, and we just don’t know it yet because he hasn’t had the opportunity. Well, he’s got his opportunity now. Subriel Matias is one of the dark horses in the division and is a very, very dangerous man. So, that’s fireworks. It’s a good fight, said Algieri.
Is Matias at 140?
“I have Teofimo Lopez at #2, and I have Matias #1 on the list,” said Bradley. “The reason is, you have Lopez that has won the championships, I get it, but if you really look in-depth, if you really see what he’s done.”
It makes sense to have Matias above Teofimo, as the New Yorker Teo has had a lot of inactivity, and mentally, he’s looked scattered brained several of his recent fights in the last two years.
“He fought two guys that hadn’t been in the ring in over a year. Think about that now. Two guys that hadn’t been in the ring” said Bradley about Teofimo’s best wins. “That was Lomachenko, and that was Josh Taylor.
“So, the reason I give Matias the end is because he’s fighting legit guys, he’s breaking them down, knocking them out, he’s putting on spectacular performances, and I think we haven’t seen Lopez in a fight with someone like a Matias to where he’s going to be pressured all night.
“If somebody can take his punch and keep coming forward, I think a guy like Matias can beat a guy like Lopez if they were to fight. That’s the reason why I got him [Matias] at #1 over Teofimo Lopez.
“Fans out there, you guys, you can say what you want to say, but until Lopez can beat somebody that hadn’t been out of the ring for a year and a half, he’s going to be at #2,” said Bradley.
“Teofimo, he’s going to be out for a year. He’s another one that has been plagued by inactivity,” said Algieri.
