Photo by Emily Harney/Hogan Photos/Golden Boy Promotions
Saturday, October 3, 2015, Argentine heavy-hitter, Lucas “La Maquina” Matthysse (37-3, 34 KOs) takes on undefeated Ukrainian, Viktor “The Iceman” Postol (27-0, 11 KOs) in a 12-round bout for the vacant WBC Super Lightweight title.
The bout will air live on HBO Boxing After Dark at 10:15 pm, EST/PST.
The backdrop will be the StubHub Center in Carson, CA, where so many notable battles have taken place including Matthysse’s 2014 Fight of the Year against John Molina. Spectators will be hoping that Matthysse and Postol can add another memorable chapter to the StubHub story as each man fights to claim their spot among the elite Super Lightweights in the world.
This will be Matthysse’s second crack at the WBC title, having fallen short in his bid to dethrone Danny Garcia in September of 2013. Matthysse uses that fight as useful experience and believes he has improved since his last defeat.
“I learned that experience is very necessary in this game and I feel like my last performances have shown how much I have grown since I last faced Garcia,” said Matthysse during a recent interview with Round By Round Boxing.
Matthysse has always had dynamite in his hands, winning his first 21 of 22 professional fights by way of knockout, but in his last bout against Ruslan Provodnikov, he showed the ability (primarily out of necessity) to box and rely on his jab while backing up.
Provodnikov’s willingness to walk through hell to engage Matthysse allowed us to learn a great deal about the Argentine power puncher. After firing off so much heavy artillery, a lesser fighter may have panicked against Provodnikov, but Matthysse showed poise and confidence in his gameplan to box.
“I have a lot of respect for Ruslan, he is a great fighter. I didn’t feel discouraged [that he walked through my power punches], we always planned to box him and if the knockout came, it came. I think we delivered a great night for the fans.”
Against Postol, jabbing will be important, but come-forward pressure and power will likely be the recipe for success as La Maquina looks to close the distance on his rangier opponent. Postol owns a four-and-a-half inch height advantage and although his knockout ratio isn’t as eye-grabbing as Matthysse’s, his biggest win to date, against Selcuk Aydin, was punctuated with a highlight-reel knockout.
Still, Matthysse feels confident that his training camp has prepared him for anything that Postol will bring to the table.
“My team has done a great job at placing great fighters similar to Postol’s style of fighting and I feel well prepared for fight night. I don’t study fighters, I let my team do that and have them advise me. I know he will be a tough fighter and I know my team has prepared me to face a fighter like him.”
Postol has had a long road to get to this opportunity and Matthysse knows that he’ll be hungry to leave with the belt.
“The people can expect another great night of boxing, it will be a night to remember. I am not predicting a knockout because I can’t predict what Viktor’s strategy will be. But we are both fighting to be the champion of the world and I know we are both prepared to leave it all in the ring.”
And just in case he needed an extra bit of motivation on Saturday night, if he is indeed successful, rumors have surfaced that Matthysse could be in line to face Manny Pacquiao in 2016.
“I am prepared to fight the best to prove I am the best and if that includes a fight with Pacquiao, I will be prepared for that.”
