Lucas Matthysse and Jorge Linares Find Easy Paydays in California
Two fighters with pedigrees find themselves in an odd, rebuilding type of fight.
Venezuela and Argentina are two of the most underrated nations in the sport of boxing. This Saturday, two of those nations’ most favored sons - Jorge Linares and Lucas Matthysse - will compete on the same card, each with a world title on the line. Scheduled to take on the most convenient level of opposition they could hope to face, expect both men to showcase their considerable talent and take another step forwards on the road to future big money fights.
The “A-Side”
Lucas “La Máquina” Matthysse (38-4) has fought only once since his bludgeoning at the hands of Viktor Postol in October of 2015. His lone appearance was a 5 round blowout of professional journeyman Emmanuel Taylor (and also his welterweight debut). This Saturday Matthysse will be fighting for the WBA “Regular” World Welterweight title.
To put this “world title” into perspective, the same belt in the heavyweight division is held by the illustrious Manuel Charr (if you’re thinking “who?” then you’ve got the right idea) so the championship implications of this fight shouldn’t be taken too seriously. Perhaps the most clear evidence for this fact is Matthysse’s scheduled opponent — Tewa Kiram (38–0).
In spite of his undefeated record, Kiram’s #1 ranking by the WBA seems dubious even by the standards of the alphabet soup organizations. His record is mostly the product of the type of cannon fodder opposition that so many Thai prospects are commonly fed on in their early careers and he has hardly looked like a world beater even against this level of competition. For all that promoters have tried to present Kiram as a worthy contender for a world title, he is ultimately badly out of his depth and has received this opportunity in the hope that he will lose spectacularly and thus continue to rekindle the terrifying reputation that Lucas Matthysse enjoyed as the boogeyman of the 140 lb division.
At 35 years old however, there are major questions for Matthysse to answer concerning how much he has left in the tank. It becomes more evident watching a highlight reel showcasing his fighting style that hasn’t lent itself to career longevity. Considering Kiram’s youth, size and respectable punching power, he might well end up giving Matthysse a hard fight, especially if the Argentinian brings his usual fan-friendly style. With any luck, this combination should lead to an entertaining bout, however if Matthysse performs anywhere close to the level that he did at 140 lbs then Kiram is in for one rough night.
The “B-Side”
Though less well-known than the Argentine knockout artist, lightweight world champion Jorge Linares (43–3) has accomplished more in his fifteen years as a professional boxer. Linares has firmly established himself as one of the best 135 lb fighters in the world, leading to widespread excitement amongst fans at the prospect of a potential superfight with former champion Mikey Garcia as well as unification fights against the likes of Gervonta Davis and Robert Easter Jr.
But not this Saturday. Instead, Linares will be defending his unified lightweight championship against the Mercito Gesta (31-1-2)…
Like Tewa Kiram, Gesta’s record does little to inspire confidence in his chances of pulling off the upset on Saturday. To his credit, the Filipino slugger has faced at least some talented opposition, though his lone step-up in competition resulted in his being clearly outboxed by then-champion Miguel Vasquez. Considering how easily Vasquez was able to outbox Gesta, it seems highly unlikely that he’ll find any more success against Jorge Linares, one of the most underrated technical boxers in the sport today. As was the case with Lucas Matthysse, here the bigger name in Linares has been gifted an opponent to whom he is stylistically suited and against whom he is expected to look impressive.
Perhaps part of the reason why Linares is getting such an easy outing is due to the difficulties he faced in his last fight. In that bout, Linares was made to look very much human by his opponent Luke Campbell, ultimately eking out a razor thin split-decision over the much less experienced challenger and retaining his titles. As with Matthysse before, it would seem that the card’s promoters are banking on Linares to make the most of an on-paper mismatch and dominate, hopefully adding to his highlight reel in the process.
Regardless, the best we can hope for is that opponents like Gesta and Kiram will allow Linares and Matthysse to showcase the depth of their skillsets to a wider audience, ideally paving the way for fights against worthier contenders in the process. In this respect at least, fans will not be disappointed.
