Photo by Ismael Gallardo
Mauricio “El Maestro” Herrera vs. “Hammerin’” Hank Lundy had all the makings of a fight of the year candidate.
Two fighters who aren’t afraid to mix it up and who have had some bad luck recently in their careers, both who were coming off losses in which they thought they had won, and both in desperate need of a win.
We should have expected some controversy coming into this one, with Herrera and Lundy, it just makes sense.
The fight didn’t even get past the fifth round before a horrible cut above the right eye of Herrera forced the doctor and referee Jack Reiss to stop the fight.
You could have made a case for both fighters to get the technical-decision victory, Lundy controlled the fight early with some big shots that rocked Herrera, and Herrera controlled late by turning it into more of his kind of awkward fight.
When the cards were read it came out 49-48 twice and 48-48 for Mauricio Herrera, who finally was the one who came out on the winning side of controversy.
Lundy immediately screamed controversy and requested a rematch on even grounds, implying Herrera was the “House Fighter,” which he was.
He deserves it, and Herrera should give it to him, knowing exactly what it’s like being on the wrong end of controversy.
Herrera, who improves to 22-5-0, with 7 KOs, gave the impression he had his eyes on a bigger matchup, calling out knockout artist Lucas Matthysse in his post-fight interview.
Matthysse is currently negotiating a fight against Viktor Postol to happen in September for the vacant WBC Super Lightweight title, so a showdown between Herrera and Matthysse wouldn’t be likely until early 2016.
There are plenty of other great fights out there for Herrera at 140 pounds if he decides to not give Lundy the rematch. Let’s take a look at some options for Mauricio Herrera moving forward.
