In Man Vs. Machine, “Ice” Man Superior; Postol Stops Matthysse in Rd. 10

Published

10 years ago

October 4, 2015

Lucas Matthysse, the smasher from Argentina, met slick boxer Viktor Postol on Saturday night, at Stub Hub Center in Cali on Saturday night, and guess what? The slick boxer got pop; Postol weathered some leather and then gained steam, boxed smartly, moved, popped the jab and then he stepped it up. The end came late in the tenth, on a tiring favorite. A straight right put Matthysse down, on a knee. He looked down, and didn’t move muscles to get erect.

End of game for Matthysse, who never got untracked all that much, and couldn’t get a bead of a slippery and energized foe. We now wonder, is he burnt out. Mileage balding the tire? Warring sapped his body and soul?

Matt is 33, 139.5, to age 31 and 139.5 for the Ukrainian. The vacant WBC 130 pound crown was up for grabs.

In the first, the 37-3 Matt was the semi stalker, and Postol liked to keep a distance. There were a few clinches, and ref Jack Reiss told them to keep it clean. In the second, the 27-0 Ukrainian worked a triple jab. He slid, quickly, to his left, to steer away from the power edge. Postol moved smartly, popped little shots, kept at a smart distance. In the third, Matt and Postol clinched too much. Stop, break, said the ref several times. “Not pretty, but effective,” said HBO’s Jim Lampley of Postol’s game-plan. Harold Lederman had it 29-28 for Postol..

In the fourth, Postol was in a happy rhythm. He ate a left hook late but he took the round. How could Matthysse switch things around? In the fifth, the clinch-y stuff continued. We saw Postol put together a jab-jab-hook and then he’d slide. Very effective work…

Matt landed a hard right and the crowd buzzed, at :45. The straight right caught him backing up straight. Then Postol got his second holding warning… In the sixth, a right buzzed Postol. Then, a butt, a break, and Matt back to work. Matt was landing clean, both hands. A left hook was concussive from Matty. He got tagged late and buzzed a bit, solid stuff in that seventh. To the eighth…a one-two from Postol scored mightily. In the ninth: Postol backed up Matty, to the ropes, was looking ultra confident, totally fresh. The Matty corner told him after, You gotta throw, dude. Freddie Roach told Postol he needed the last two rounds big. In the tenth, down went Matty, soon after Freddie told Max Kellerman his guy could win by KO. He stayed down, didn’t beat the count, in fact, didn’t much try to..

Here are some quotes from after:

BOB ARUM

“Viktor Postol will be a real force in the 140 and 147 pound divisions. He had a terrific fight tonight. He will be hard to beat. Top Rank will have some big very fights for him.”

FREDDIE ROACH

“Before the last round I told our corner that our opponent was very tired and ready to go out. He was coming in with his head leaning down. We told Viktor now is the time for a right uppercut and a left hook. Viktor is a good student of the game. He followed the game plan perfectly. This was, really, one of the greatest wins of my career.”

VIKTOR POSTOL

“I was a small boy, 12 years old when I first went into a boxing gym. Even then my ultimate goal was to win a world championship. I later made a decision to leave the Ukraine and go to America, which is the mecca of boxing. I went right to the Wild Card Gym. Freddie Roach became my trainer. This was our third fight. It was Freddie and his trainers who taught me the small things to work on and become stronger as a professional boxer. I am a world champion because of Freddie, the world’s best trainer. I mean that. At the Wild Card I did everything he told me to do each and every day. Now I am bringing home a WBC green championship belt. The people of Ukraine will be so proud. I beat a very strong, powerful champion to win the title.”

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