Lucas Matthysse vs. Breidis Prescott

Fascinatingly, these guys had a fierce rivalry in the amateurs (Matthysse stopping Prescott in the 1st in 2003, but losing a rematch by a narrow margin on points) and both hard-punching 31-year-old South Americans have fought most of their professional careers at light welter. Both are rebuilding, one match removed from their last defeat.

Strange the match-up has never been discussed. They have unfinished business - and they could each use the other for a name-value springboard right about now!! :bbb

Prescott dismissed their first meeting as "flukey" and said Matthysse hits like a bunny rabbit! :shock:

Matthysse has nothing lined up at the moment, still healing up from the Molina war in April. He was down in his last two outings.

Prescott is facing light middleweight fringe contender and massive (but slow as molasses) puncher Roberto Garcia next month at welter.

This makes dollars and sense! This could headline on HBO, or make for an excellent co-feature on a big PPV. There would need to be something on the line, though - so Prescott would need to come back down to 140 and get ranked with a W or two, or Matthysse would have to move up and do the same in order to make it an eliminator for a title either way.

 

Nah, don't be silly now.

I'm probably the biggest Matthysse fan on this board (certainly the longest-standing one, unless anybody else has been cheering him on since Castaneda I?) and have never really cared much for Prescott, whom I thought got showered with a ridiculous amount of hype for blitzing a cold Amir Khan - but let's be real here.

Matthysse has an iron chin but he no longer seems invulnerable to getting dropped after going down thrice against Garcia and Molina. Prescott may not be in Garcia's league overall, but is at least the equal of Molina, and if we are being honest probably has a lot more boxing skill - not to mention those daunting physical attributes, having five inches of height and three of reach on Matthysse - along with comparable raw power.

Prescott has been steadily improving his game over the years, and while still not perfect has added some nifty tools. He knows how to use his size and has fine-tuned his jab.

If you are writing him off because of the five losses, reconsider. He ran Vázquez - the current #1 or #2 lightweight in the world - pretty close. Many thought he was robbed against McCloskey. He was ahead on points when Alvarado pulled off a miraculous last-minute stoppage.

...and clearly (and growing more so), Terence Crawford getting the best of you is no great shame - unless we now are going to pretend Gamboa always was a bum, too?

I would be rooting for Matthysse, and ultimately do favor him in this h2h match-up - but Prescott is no bum nor would it be a terrible mismatch, all things considered. At least not right now.

 

p4p Matthysse is head and shoulders above, but then again p4p Matthysse is head and shoulders above Molina (who, yes, campaigned for years at lightweight whereas Matthysse has always been a light welter...but look at Molina. Dude cut a lot of weight to make 135 and has a welter's frame...and Prescott is even bigger...) and that was hardly the walk in the park it should've been.

Size kind of does matter, to an extent.

 

Clarification on the amateur meetings... (both were part of the Pan American Games in 2003; Matthysse beating Prescott in a qualifier and then losing to him in the actual Games in their rematch)

It was stopped after one round was completed, and Matthysse outpointed Prescott in that single round, 10-1. So that sounds like the amateur equivalent of a technical decision? I'm guessing one boxer was cut and could not continue?

Prescott beat him 15-13 in the rematch.

By the way, if anyone has footage of either meeting it would be met with a "muchos gracias!! :smooch"

 

Yeah, in 2009.

...and Eufracio Gonzalez has put in several years' worth of tweaking and tinkering since then and gotten Prescott to play more to his strengths.

Plus, the fact that he let Mitchell outbox him is easily countered by the fact that he earned a legitimate decision over Richar Abril. (as did Hank Lundy; and don't listen to anybody who tells you either fight was a robbery. I was there in person for Lundy vs. Abril, which never was televised, so pretty much nobody else is really in a position to say otherwise unless they were there as well...)

Stats in Prescott vs. Abril:

Prescott 144 of 449, 32%
Abril 95 of 516, 18%

 

...especially if Prescott is coming off a nationally televised victory (in a presumable bloodbath, headlining on ESPN2) with a guy who always looked huge at 154, in Garcia. :deal