Matthysse KOs Postol; Orozco defeats Soto

By Boxing News - 10/03/2015 - Comments

Image: Matthysse KOs Postol; Orozco defeats Soto(Photo credit: Tom Hogan/Golden Boy Promotions) By Jim Dower: In a surprising outcome, unbeaten #1 WBC Viktor Postol (28-0, 12 KOs) stopped #2 WBC Lucas Matthysse (37-4, 34 KOs) in the 10th round on Saturday night to capture the vacant WBA light welterweight title on HBO Championship Boxing from the StubHub Center in Carson, California. Postol knocked Matthysse down with a right hand in the 10th. Matthysse then opted not to get back to his feet and he was counted out by referee Jack Reiss. Matthysse was rubbing his left eye while on the canvas. He said that his left eye was injured from the right hand that he was knocked down with.

“I can assure you this is not going to be my last knockout,” Postol said after the fight. “I took a few hard shots. I can take a punch. I was afraid that he was going to take a point away from me, but Freddie told me I could fight on the inside and throw short punches. It would be a pleasure to meet him [Terence Crawford in the ring. I want to prove myself to American boxing fans.”

It was an ugly fight for the most part due to the size difference between the two fighters, and because of Matthysse’s inability to fight smart when he did get in range. It’s really surprising how poor of a fight that Matthysse fought. He appeared like he had no idea that Postol was going to be clinching him this much in the fight. Matthysse should have prepared in training camp to be clinching over 10 times per round, because Postol is a carbon copy of Wladimir Klitschko with his fighting style. Postol even looks like Klitschko. Matthysse didn’t appear to have worked on what to do in training camp to negate the clinching that Postol was doing, and that’s a big reason why he lost the fight.

Postol did a lot of clinching in every round. He was clinching as many as 15 times in some of the rounds.

“I heard something pop in my eye,” Matthysse said about the knockout.

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In a controversial decision, undefeated #11 WBC light welterweight contender Antonio Orozco (23-0, 15 KOs) defeated former world champion Humberto Soto (65-9-2, 35 KOs) by a 10 round unanimous decision.

The final judges’ scores were 98-91, 97-92 and 97-92. The crowd at the StubHub appeared to believe that Soto did enough to win the fight, as they booed loudly the results of the fight. I had Soto winning the fight by one round. The judge that scored the fight 98-91 gave Soto little credit for doing anything. It’s unclear what fight he was watching tonight.

Orozco was docked a point for a low blow in the 9th round. He got away with some rabbit punches in the 4th round.

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Unbeaten featherweight prospect Nick Arce (5-0, 5 KOs) scored his fifth consecutive knockout in stopping a game but limited Juan Hernandez (3-1).

The 19-year-old Arce knocked Hernandez down with a body shot. Referee Zac Young then stopped the fight at 0:29 of the round.

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Former world title challenger lightweight Mercito Gesta (29-1-2, 16 KOs) defeated Miguel Angel Mendoza (22-7-2, 21 KOs) by a 10 round unanimous decision. The scores were 97-92, 97-92 and 96-93. Gesta was knocked down in the 2nd round of the contest.

Gesta weathered the storm and came back to fight well enough to get the decision. It obviously wasn’t a good sign for the 27-year-old Gesta that he struggled with a fighter of Mendoza’s class because there are much better fighters in the 135lb division than Mendoza.

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29-year-old light welterweight Marcelino Lopez (32-1-1, 17KO) had an easy time in stopping 33-year-old journeyman David Rodela (17-12-4, 7 KOs) in stopping him in the 3rd round.

Lopez knocked Rodela down in the 2nd and 3rd rounds. Referee Eddie Hernandez halted the fight at 1:04 of the 3rd. Rodela’s once promising career is in free fall at this point with him having lost seven out of his last eight bouts.

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Unbeaten light heavyweight D’Mitrius Ballard (10-0, 7KO) kept his perfect record with a six round unanimous decision win over Juan Carlos Rojas (8-13-1, 7KO). The fight final judges’ scores were 60-53, 59-54 and 58-55.

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Super featherweight journeyman Alejandro Ochoa (7-11-2, 1KO) defeated previously unbeaten Kevin Rivers (12-1, 9 KOs) by a six round majority decision. Rivers, 25, was knocked down in the 1st and 2nd rounds from huge shots from the 26-year-old Ochoa.

Rivers came on later in the fight, but it wasn’t enough for him to make up for the early knockdowns. The judges’ scores were 59-53, 59-53 and 56-56. The final score was an unusual one because it appeared to be a clear win for Ochoa.



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