I see very contrasting opinions on him, some saying he’s massively overrated and people mainly point to fact of his basic defence and one dimensional skill set, then I see other people say he’s an absolute monster, I personally side with the latter, just because someone is one dimensional, if that one dimension is good enough, then that can do, yes you might outbox him for a bit, you might be faster, sharper, better defence, but what you have, you won’t have by the 8th round, while Matias is exactly the same later on in the fight, when you just want a rest, you’re tired, his volume just isn’t stopping, body/head combinations from Matias, powerful constantly, if you can’t put a dent in that man, it’s over for you, he will force you to work, break you down physically and mentally, when you wilt infront of him, you gradually start taking more and more punishment, his combinations and volume don’t stop until you’re stopped, the guy is a walking torture chamber, people underrate endurance and the fact a fight is 12 rounds, you can’t see that in highlights. How do you rate him?
His resume is legit. Hes beaten contender level fighters already. Paro is good enough that if Matias just walks through him then we have to accept him as an elite guy.
I think he will, Ergashev looks better than Paro to me, better boxer and sharper, Paro looks stiffer and not as well schooled in general.
Matias has one of the longest ring walks of all time at 28 minutes against Ergashev (other than Felix Trinidad that one time he intentionally stalled against ODLH). Matias danced the whole way taking one step forward two steps back. I remember the bartender at the pub we were watching the fight at kept saying "Its safe to go use the restroom, this guy is still dancing." lol.
dangerous guy, but very beatable. dont fight him unless you have ko power, cause thats the only way youre stopping him. attack his body from the start. that should be the main gameplan against him. he gives you those shots for the most part, preferring to just turtle up and catch em on the arms. it builds points and diminishes him for the later rds. youre gonna have to pound some energy out of him, and body work is the best way. otherwise hes gonna drown you in the late rds, cause hes got more gas than you. to take him out, work on hooking from a defensive position, in between his punches. when you slow or stand still, matias likes to punch in combination from weird angles and at tricky rhythms. thats the time to cover up, weave, and hook in between his punches. he has little head movement, so once you get his hands away from his chin, hes very vulnerable. ive only seen a couple highlights of paro, but he seems to have the punch to put enough hurt on matias to beat him in the manner i outlined. so if he stays committed to the body for the first 6 rds, he can stop matias in the 2nd half. if he concentrates on trying to punch in between, and around his guard to the head, matias will beat the fight out of him in the second half.
He’s a good strong pressure fighter like a lot of puerto ricans/cubans but he gets hit way too often, Ponce gave the guy all kinds of problems, Ergashev at times you could see was the better boxer but didn’t have the nouss or toughness to keep him off and both corners ended up retiring their fighter. It wouldn’t surprise me if Paro walked away with the win but I feel Matias will walk through him.