Mayweather-Canelo Undercard: Danny Garcia Beats Lucas Matthysse
Photos by Tom Casino for Showtime
by Gautham Nagesh
LAS VEGAS, Nev.–Danny Garcia battled Lucas Matthysse for twelve rounds at the MGM Grand Saturday night to win a unanimous decision and the true junior welterweight championship of the world.
In the process, Garcia proved himself an elite fighter and one of the toughest men to lace up a pair of gloves in recent memory. An underdog despite his many belts and unbeaten record, Garcia can be forgiven if he feels disrespected by fight writers enamored with Matthysse’s power before the fight. Garcia responded directly to the naysayers in the ring after winning.
“I’m the champion of the world. The champion of the world’s not scared of anybody,” Garcia said. “I’m from Philadelphia…If you can make it out of Philadelphia, you can make it anywhere.”
This was phenomenal struggle between two top-notch boxer-punchers at the peak of their game. Both men started out jabbing, measuring their foe and showing respect. Matthysse began firing his right hand to the body, while Garcia responded by jabbing his opponent to the head and torso. From the outset Garcia was willing to take risks, and didn’t seem concerned about getting hit with Matthysse’s vaunted power shots.[[MORE]]
When Matthysse landed a hard right hand, Garcia took it without flinching. Still, the first round went to Matthysse, as did the 2nd after more hard work from the Argentine puncher. Matthysse went back to the body with the right, while Garcia kept looking for his counter-left hook in response. Matthysse later switched to the left hook, sticking Garcia in chin cleanly and then getting the better of an exchange. But Garcia again took the punches well.
The 3rd round saw Garcia pick up the pace, trying for some hard right hands with mixed success. A huge right to the head by Garcia missed badly, but the same shot to Matthysse’s torso produced a better return. Both torsos were visibly red from the body shots, but the pace of the round favored Garcia. He took it on our card, in large part due to his effective jab and left hook to the body. Garcia mixed in the straight right hand to the head after the hook to the body in the 4th, doing real damage to Matthysse for the first time in the fight. After four rounds, the bout was even on our card.
Garcia’s gameplan was spot on from the outset, and he showed remarkable poise in sticking to it despite some early success by Matthysse. Lucas went back to the jab in the 5th round, and continued his strategy of holding and clinching on the inside to smother Garcia’s punches. Matthysse won the 5th, and turned it up even more in the 6th. Matthysse straightened out his looping punches, and they began landing flush. A hard combination rocked Garcia, and the Philly fighter appeared to be feeling the cumulative effect of Matthysse’s concussive blows.
Danny’s trainer and father Angel Garcia gets a lot of flack, mostly because he has managed to insult almost every ethnic group in the fight game at some point or other. But Garcia knows his son, and he has taught him well. He slapped Danny in the face between the 6th and 7th rounds, then exhorted his son to wake up and fight. It was a master stroke, and it worked to perfection.
Garcia started mounting a real attack in the 7th, starting with a pair of right hands from in close. A left hook appeared to damage Matthysse’s eye, which swelled up rapidly until it was almost shut. With his vision impaired, Matthysse was a sitting duck for Garcia’s left hand. Danny took advantage, landing a hard one-two combination that appeared to hurt Matthysse for the first time in recent memory.
It was more of the same in the 8th, as Garcia took his turn to take control of the fight with the jab. Garcia stayed with the body attack, then went upstairs with a left hook that shook Matthysse. Lucas responded by closely guarding his right eye with his glove, eliminating the threat of his best offensive weapon. Garcia kept coming, landing another hard combination in the 9th. He took the lead on our card and it was obvious that Matthysse was unable to see the punches coming well enough to avoid them.
Matthysse’s corner worked its magic before the 10th, using the endswell to open their fighter’s eye again before sending him back out. Matthysse started the round more effectively, but Garcia continued to land the left hook. Before the fight, Matthysse was almost universally believed to have the harder punch and the stronger chin. The former may still be true, but the latter is an absolute falsehood. Garcia’s punches did more damage on this night, mostly because Garcia’s beard is cast from the same iron as the Liberty Bell.
Still, Matthysse is a warrior and he refused to capitulate. He tied the scorecards in the 10th, and began the 11th by blasting Garcia with a right hand. The blow hurt Garcia badly, and sent his mouthpiece flying into the stands. The momentary stoppage to recover it was welcome relief, and bought Garcia time to recover. Matthysse kept coming, hoping to end the fight, but Garcia found his feet and responded with a combination that sent Matthysse to the canvas for the first time in his career. Lucas rose, apparently OK, but the tide had officially turned.
Matthysse entered the final round knowing he needed at least a knockdown to win, and in all probability a stoppage. The door cracked open when Garcia smacked Matthysse in the crotch with an uppercut early in the round, the latest of several low blows from Garcia. Referee Tony Weeks justifiably took away a point, and Matthysse suddenly had hope again. He stalked Garcia, pushed him against the ropes and began unloading everything he had.
Garcia refused to back down, and the pair spent the last minute of the fight swinging for the fences, pounding each other with hard punches while the crowd roared in appreciation. When the final bell rang, the media room couldn’t help but applaud what they had just seen. Matthysse had done whatever he could, but Garcia was simply too determined to be the champion of the world.
When I picked Garcia to win this fight, I said the following: "The most important muscle a fighter has is heart. Danny Garcia’s heart is as big as anyone in the sport.“ That heart is what carried Garcia to the win tonight, by scores of 115-111 and 114-112 (twice). Our card read 114-112. Afterward, Garcia expressed his desire to relax, take a vacation and spend time with his family. He has certainly earned a break. Whenever he does come back, no one will ever sell him short again.
Mexico’s Pablo Cesar Cano (left) was simply too strong for England’s Ashley Theophane in the Pay Per View opener, bullying Theophane around the ring to win a ten-round decision. Cano kept up steady pressure through the fight, patiently targeting the older Theophane with right hands and left hooks to the body. Cano rocked Theophane several times early in the fight, and appeared to be firmly in control by the 5th round.
Theophane landed a hard blow of his own in that round, temporarily stemming the tide, but Cano regained control quickly. To his credit, Theophane never stopped firing back or trying to win. However, Cano’s youth and strength were too much for Ashley, who appeared out-gunned from the outset. Cano’s blows were simply harder, more frequent, and more accurate.
At the final bell, Theophane waved his glove in a half-hearted entreaty for favor from the judges. Even Theophane appeared unconvinced, yet one judge went along, inexplicably judging Ashley the winner by a score of 96-94. The other two cards of 97-93 and 98-92 for Cano were much closer to reality. Cano is an entertaining fighter, but he will struggle to reach the top in a deep welterweight division.
The second televised fight between Carlos Molina and Ishe Smith at junior middleweight was a tedious affair, considering the surroundings. This fight would have been better suited as a main event on ESPN, rather than the appetizer for two of the most-anticipated fights in recent memory.
Molina is never a fun fighter to watch, but we can’t help but respect how effective he is in the ring. Despite lacking standout speed or power, Molina rarely gets hit cleanly, and never stops punching. His battle with Smith was typically ugly, with lots of clutching, grabbing and holding, but Molina’s job is to win, nothing more. Smith started well in a cautious first, but Molina took control as the early rounds continued.
Smith appeared to make an adjustment in the middle rounds, smothering Molina’s punches inside and landing a few of his own at distance. But Molina kept pecking away with his jab, and going downstairs with regularity. His constant pressure appeared to give him the advantage as the rounds wore on, though Smith was able to avoid getting hit with any huge punches. Still, Smith never sustained an attack, or appeared to be in control at any point.
By the late rounds, neither fighter had landed much of consequence, and it appeared Molina’s aggression and activity would rule the day. The lack of significant action meant that the scores were likely to be unpredictable, and they were. Judge Adelaide Byrd had Smith winning the fight convincingly, 116-112, which would seem to be a clear example of home cooking for the Las Vegas native. The other two cards favored Molina 117-111 and 116-112. The split decision means Molina can call himself a world champion, though the true ruler in the division will be crowned in the main event.
The best thing that can be said about this fight is that it’s over, and we won’t have to watch it again.