Danny Garcia v Lucas Martin Matthysse

In a bout seen as the most "explosive" encounter on "The One" card Danny Garcia (17-0, 16) defeated Lucas Matthysse (34-3, 32) by a decision to successfully retain the combined WBC and WBA Light Welterweight titles.


Prior to the fight their was a clear "Buzz" from the crowd, a shock considering the fact they had all fallen to sleep during the previous bout, a sleep inducing contest between Ishe Smith and Carlos Molina.

The opening round was a careful and slow one with Garcia boxing well with his movement and jab. It wasn't what we expected and wasn't a shoot out but it was a very intelligent round from Garcia. Despite the unexpected start things did heat up in the second round as Matthysse fought back and tagged Garcia several times. Unfortunately the round saw the first, of many, low blows by Garcia in what become a bit of a sub story to the fight.

Round 3 was another where Garcia's boxing made Matthysse look slow and clumsy though again Garcia seemed to get away with shots south of the border. Although Matthysse didn't seem to make much of a fuss they were becoming a common place in the arsenal of Garcia and, at least for me, they were beginning to leave questions as to what he was going to be able to get away with from Tony Weeks.

The "borderline" shots were continuing through round 4 as Garcia, who was genuinely boxing well and moving excellently seemed to have found a nice way to slow down Matthysse's assaults. It wasn't until round 5 that Tony Weeks actually told Garcia to keep them up, and that was after the second or third one in that round alone. It had by now become obvious that Matthysse's balls had become a "legal" area. Despite the low blows Matthysse seemed to take rounds 5 and 6 as he went up a gear and by the mid way point it could well have been scored even.

Despite two good rounds for Matthysse he had a nightmare round 7 in which his right eye was almost swollen shut. This nasty injury seemed to immediately effect the Argentinian who struggled through the following 2 rounds with the doctor taking a serious look at it in between rounds 8 and 9. Those rounds were all Garcia with Matthysse trying to protect the eye rather than really fight back, this saw Garcia landing his much vaunted left hook several times.

With Matthysse now looking like a man who was on the verge of being stopped he some how put on an amazing effort in round 10 as he showed their was still plenty left in "The Machine". The big effort of Matthysse in round 10 gave him his best round since the 6th and was a round he clearly won as Garcia appeared to suddenly tire.

The controversy of the low blows wasn't the only mark on the fight with a huge blown call by the referee in round 11. Matthysse started the round fast again, as he had in the previous round and actually punched Garcia's gum shield out of his mouth at the start of it. Unfortunately Matthysse's good work was undone with a knockdown call against him which appeared to come not only following a punch to the back of the head but whilst Matthysse was stuck between the ropes. The referee, who had in all honesty allowed Garcia away with ball bashing blew the call here and probably swung the round from a 10-9 Matthysse round to a 10-8 Garcia round. Those 3 points would prove to be a major issue just a few minutes later.

Going into the final round it seemed almost certain Matthysse needed a stoppage to win, and he went for it. Unfortunately low blows again came to the fray, though this time Matthysse was dropped by one and the referee, finally, deducted a point from Garcia, something he could have done 3 or 4 rounds earlier. The point however wasn't enough and Matthysse knew it, though he was forced to take another low.

Almost angered by the final low blow Matthysse let it all hang out as the two men traded to the bell, with it seeming almost certain that Garcia has retained his titles. What perhaps became important however was the margin of the victory, with the decision going to Garcia by scores of 114-112 (twice) and 115-111.

That knock down and the swing of it, effectively cost Matthysse, and that's with out mentioning the numerous, unpunished low blows.

Mr Weeks, I'm usually a fan but don't let your new Audi advert go to your head, you had a real stinker here.

Lucas Martin Matthysse v Mike Dallas Jr

Aggressively minded Argentinian Lucas Martin Matthysse (33-2-0-1, 31) made the first successful defense of his interim WBC Light Welterweight title as he viciously stopped Mike Dallas Jr (19-3-1, 8) inside a round.

Although Dallas started the round well with his speed it didn't take long for Matthysse to connect on him and shake up Dallas. Dallas tied up Matthysse after getting rocked though it appeared from then on that Dallas was living in fear having tasted Matthysse's power and with good reason.

Whilst Dallas had managed to see out the first storm he didn't get to see out the first round as Matthysse landed a monster right hand that rendered Dallas unconscious. As Dallas was on his way down Matthysse tried to tag him with 2 more shots though neither connected cleanly as Dallas crashed to the canvas. With Dallas out cold Robert Byrd just waved off the fight with Matthysse having scored a spectacular opening round KO.

Prior to the fight however there was some controversial as Matthysse was seen taking a pill by Virgil Hunter, Dallas' trained .According to Hunter it was an Amino-500 though Matthysse, via a translator explained it as being a vitamin pill. We will all be waiting for the test results to come back, though if it was a vitamin pill, I dare say Hunter should have kept his mouth shut for his fighters safety.

Lucas Martin Matthysse v Olusegun Ajose

Many "interim" title fights feel like out and out cash spinners by the organisation who have their title attached to the bout. For some reason however the WBC "interim" Light Welterweight title fight between Lucas Martin Matthysse (32-2-0-1, 30) and Olusegun Ajose (30-1, 14) felt like like a genuine world title fight. We had 2 world class talents, 2 contrasting styles and a fight that just seemed to yell "great fight", it delivered.

The opening round saw both men giving and taking in an entertaining round that perhaps had a touch of being a "feeling out round" though was certainly more active than your typical opening round. The following round however saw both men putting their foot on the gas and trading up close. Sadly for Ajose he decided to fight in the pocket and was punished by Matthysse who rocked him hard in the final minute. It appeared at the end of round 2 that this could be an early night.

Despite surviving through round 2 Ajose was rocked repeatedly in both rounds 3 and 4 as Matthysse started to grind down the Nigerian, landing to both the the head and body of his opponent. On more than 1 occasion it appeared that Ajose was ready to drop though his heart, rock solid chin and fighter spirit kept him upright, some how. By the middle rounds it was getting painful to watch as Ajose refused to give up despite taking a real shellacking from the Argentinian banger.

Although he had been hurt, rocked, shaken and rattled repeatedly through out the bout Ajose was refusing to give up and actually had his most successful rounds in rounds 7 and 8, making a genuine case to have at least claimed one of them. His success however would be short lived as Matthysse regrouped well and started to impose himself once again in round 9 against a tiring Ajose.

At this point no one would have complained had Ajose retired in his corner, or been retired by his corner, instead however he went out for round 10 knowing he needed a KO. Sadly for Ajose he was too beaten, too battered and too damaged to do much and was eventually dropped in the 10th round. The referee (Russell Mora) had seen enough and waved off the bout before Ajose had been given a chance to recover to his feet, probably a good decision in all honesty as Ajose had really been given a hiding.

Whilst the bout was really one sided it was also an entertaining bout. Ajose refused to go down whilst landing his own shots, shots that sadly did little more than irritate Matthysse who just walked through them whilst landing his own blows. Neither man appeared to really slow down and it was just really, really enjoyable.

For Ajose this is likely the end of his hard luck story, a genuine shame that he had to wait this long for his opportunity at the big time. At 32 years old he may still have a few fights in him but this beating will have cut his career short and certainly ended his dreams of a world title.

Matthysse on the other hand will be licking his lips at the thought of facing the winner of the up coming match up between Danny Garcia and Erik Morales, a win over the victor of that bout would see Matthysse become the #1 guy at 140lbs.