By Jackie Kallen
As excited as I am for the Mayweather/Alvarez fight, I am just as pumped to see the Garcia/Matthysse bout. I can’t imagine this one will go the distance so don’t blink or go to the kitchen for a drink. In my mind, this battle will start out toe-to-toe and continue at that pace until someone gets counted out.
Argentina’s pride and joy–Matthysse–is one of the hardest hitters in the business. When he hits a man, the victim can’t decide whether he ran into a wall, got pummeled by a sledge hammer, or got run over by a tank. Less than 15% of his opponents managed to finish with a decision loss. He has split-decision losses to Devon Alexander and Zab Judah, but both men tasted the canvas during their fights with him. And both fights were in the opponent’s home town.
Philly’s Garcia is no slouch in the power department either. Just ask Erik Morales, who got KOed in the fourth round against Garcia in 2012. Or Amir Khan who also got stopped in the fourth round during his outing with Garcia a few months earlier. Both men can attest to his strength and the velocity of his punch.
Being a fan of both fighters, I can easily see either one of them dominating the other. But I have a hunch that Matthysse will hand Garcia his first defeat. There are plenty of boxing fans who will disagree with me and I respect their opinions. But Matthysse is on such a roll now that he will be hard to beat. His confidence is at an all-time high. On most cards, this fight would be the main event.
There have been rumors circulating that Garcia is leery of Matthysse’s fire-power and was reluctant to take this fight. He has repeatedly denied it and claims that he is looking forward to the challenge. It annoys him that some fans are saying that he accepted the fight under pressure and was hoping to avoid fighting the Argentinian.
We will soon find out. This has the potential of being one of the top fights of the year. Neither man will back down and neither one is a particularly lazy boxer or defensive genius. The leather will be flying–and landing–all over the place. I can’t wait.
