By Jim Dower: Trainer/brother Robert Garcia reportedly wants Mikey Garcia (38-0, 30 KOs) to move up to welterweight to challenge WBA World 147 lb. champion Lucas Mattysse (39-4, 36 KOs) for his title. Manny Pacquiao is hoping to fight the 35-year-old Matthysse on June 24 in Malaysia, but that fight is not looking good right now due to the money not having come through for the fight.
By Robbie Bannatyne: They say the facts don’t lie. But they can be deceiving, and at times, downright surprising. As was the case in the Light-Welterweight title bout between Danny ‘Swift’ Garcia and Lucas ‘Machine’ Matthysse, the penultimate fight on the Mayweather vs Alvarez undercard.
Despite being the challenger, Matthysse was a massive favorite to win the fight, but Garcia put on vintage display- mixing pure boxing with brawling- to rip up the script and retain his WBA and WBC titles making sure his unbeaten record remains intact.
As surprising as the outcome was, the compu-box fight statistics are even more astonishing and seem to separate some myths from the reality of what both men bring to the table.
By Franco Ranzoni: Lucas Matthysse arriving back home in Argentina has immediately confirmed to the Argentine media that a rematch with WBA/WBC light welterweight champion Danny Garcia has already been discussed. “A date” he says “is still being worked out.” This comes as outstanding news for any boxing fan out there who witnessed what could be described as the one of the best fights–if not the best– of 2013.
For 12 rounds the two champions exchanged blows that would have probably knocked out most other fighters out there. These two, however, took every devastating blow, and returned them with interest. Matthysse vs Garcia looks destined to become our generation’s Gatti vs Ward.
By R.Amin: Last night was a disappointing night in boxing. I waited for the Danny Garcia vs. Lucas Matthyese fight for months. I thought it was going to be a great night of boxing making history but boy was I wrong. One one side, there was Danny Garcia, a somewhat decent slugger, known mostly from his loud-mouthed dad for his useless rants. I always thought Danny was a b-rated fighter. Danny, however, did surprise me when he KO’ed Amir Khan. On the other side, there was this emerging star name Lucas Matthysse, a very humble fighter with enormous power.
From the pre-fight buildup, we seen Danny’s dad Angel Garcia over the top behavior disrespecting the Argentinian people with his corny patriotic comments. Not surprisingly, this behavior was seen before when his son fought Amir Khan, with his dad’s rants. Boxing world was interested to see if his son Danny can back it all up after all the trash talk.
(Photo credit: Hogan Photos) By Chris Williams: WBA/WBC light welterweight champion Danny Garcia (27-0, 16 KO’s) could have put himself in the drivers’ seat for a big money fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. (45-0, 26 KO’s) next May on the Mexican holiday Cinco de Mayo, but Garcia’s clinch-filled 12 round unanimous decision win over Lucas Matthysse (34-3, 32 KO’s) last night at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada, wasn’t the kind of performance that will likely lead to a Mayweather fight.
The Garcia-Matthysse fight was thought ahead of time to potentially be the best fight on the card, but thanks to Garcia’s constant holding and running, it turned out to be the worst fight by far of the night.
By Allan Fox: ESPN’s Dan Rafael is going with the smart picks for tonight’s mega fight card on Showtime pay-per-view by selecting Floyd Mayweather Jr. (44-0, 26 KO’s) to top Mexico’s No.1 boxing star Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (42-0-1, 30 KO’s), and Argentinian Lucas Matthysse (34-2, 32 KO’s) over WBA/WBC light welterweight champion Danny Garcia (26-0, 16 KO’s) by knockout at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Rafael summed up his thoughts on the Mayweather-Canelo fight by saying this to ESPN “He’s [Mayweather] facing a slower, less experienced, somewhat one-dimensional opponent. Alvarez is bigger and stronger, but made to order for Mayweather.”
By Dan Ambrose: Challenger Lucas Matthysse (34-2, 32 KO’s) looked in superb shape at today’s weigh-in for his title shot against WBA/WBC light welterweight champion Danny Garcia (26-0, 16 KO’s) at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. Matthysse came in at 140 pounds and look close to his fighting weight.
Matthysse didn’t look thin and dehydrated like some fighters do. I wish I could say the same thing about Danny Garcia. He weighed in at 140 as well, but his appearance was that of a fighter that had taken off a ton of weight. Garcia looks like he’s going to rehydrate by at least 15 pounds come Saturday night. But I just don’t think the extra weight is going to help him though for this fight, because even if Garcia is 10-15 pounds heavier than Matthysse, he still doesn’t hit as hard as him, and he definitely doesn’t have equal power in both hands the way that Matthysse does.
LAS VEGAS, NEV. (Sept. 12, 2013) – Unified WBC, WBA and Ring Magazine Light Welterweight Champion Danny “Swift” Garcia and current WBC Inter-Continental Light Welterweight Champion Lucas “The Machine” Matthysse proved that there is more than one main event scheduled at MGM Grand in Las Vegas this Saturday night. The bout headlines one of the strongest undercards in boxing history and precedes the highly anticipated matchup between Floyd “Money” Mayweather and Canelo Alvarez.
Also featured on the undercard are Ishe Smith vs. Carlos Molina in a 12-Round battle for the IBF Junior Middleweight Title, and Pablo Cesar Cano vs. Ashley Theophane in a 10-Round Welterweight battle.
Here’s what the fighters, promoters and trainers had to say during the today’s press conference:
By Allan Fox: WBA/WBC light welterweight champion Danny Garcia (26-0, 16 KO’s) has very little chance of keeping his two titles on Saturday night against the tough Argentinian fighter Lucas Matthysse (34-2, 32 KO’s) at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. Most boxing writers and fans are picking Matthysse to win the fight.
In one poll conducted by RingTV from 2700 people polled, Matthysse was picked by fans over Garcia 68.1 percent by knockout.
Naturally, Garcia doesn’t think he should be the underdog in this fight, saying “I’m ready to win the fight on Saturday night, and I’m going to go out and get his respect immediately.”
By Allan Fox: Angel Garcia, the father of WBA/WBC light welterweight champion Danny Garcia (26-0, 16 KO’s), is really upset that a lot of boxing writers and fans are picking his opponent Lucas Matthysse (34-2, 32 KO’s) to beat Garcia on Saturday in their fight at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Fans and writers are not only picking the hard hitting Matthysse to beat Danny Garcia, but many of them are picking Matthysse to knock Garcia out early in the fight unless Danny runs from him.
An angry Angel Garcia told esnewsreporting “He [Matthysse] ain’t no killer! The champion [Danny Garcia] is the killer. He trying to tell he didn’t lose [to Devon Alexander and Zab Judah]. No, you lost. In black and white, you lost. He’s got 32 nobodies. I’m worried about that bum [Matthysse] up there. That f***** bum.”