LUCAS MATTHYSSE has done Amir Khan a favour. His influential promoter Oscar De La Hoya was tipping his man to challenge Manny Pacquiao next, an idea which Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum reportedly liked the sound of. After spending year’s waiting for a tilt at Floyd Mayweather, which he was denied, Khan must have dreaded the thought of going through the same experience with Pacquiao.
Fortunately for Khan, Matthysse wilted against Victor Postol, who beat the Argentine and won the vacant WBC light-welterweight title on Saturday in Carson.
Postol delivered a final cross as Matthysse charged to him in the 10th round. It didn’t look too powerful a shot, though it was expertly delivered. Lucas folded to a knee and there he stayed, counted out and utterly defeated. Matthysse was hurt by that punch and so doesn’t deserve criticism for how the fight ended – Postol essentially put him out of his misery. But his approach to the fight as a whole was baffling. Was he expecting simply to walk through Postol? Matthysse is nothing if not powerful. But as Postol jabbed, moved and tied him up – exactly what you’d expect a taller technical fighter to do – the Argentine seemed to run out of ideas. He trailed glumly after Viktor and by the halfway stage finally managed to sink in some hefty punches. Instead of kicking it up a gear from there, he had seemingly satisfied himself with the effort and, as Postol continued to out-think him, Matthysse’s punch output dramatically declined. It was perplexing to watch, but Postol didn’t pause to wonder why, he accepted the invitation, came in off the back foot and opened up on his target, bullying the bully and winning a well deserved world title.
The Ukrainian is a stablemate of Pacquiao’s at Freddie Roach’s Wild Card and Pacquiao-Postol won’t exactly set fight fans’ pulses racing. It means Amir Khan can move back into the frame for a shot a Pacman.
A man who just won’t quietly exit the stage is Adrien Broner. He can no longer be a mini-Mayweather, given he’s lost twice. The pummeling he suffered from Marcos Maidana, the chance he squandered against Shawn Porter did little to chasten him and he was rewarded with another world title fight, against Khabib Allakhverdiev. This opportunity at least he took and Broner whether you like it or not, is now a four weight world champion and that is no mean feat, even if he has been benignly received by promoters and broadcasters. He doesn’t look like he’s going anywhere any time soon, so we better just get used to him.
