Keith Thurman vs. Julio Diaz & Lucas Martin Matthysse vs. John Molina RBR

To fast for all but Porter.

 

He was literally just standing there...

 

No. Stop crying... Warrior's don't get their fights stopped or take knees. Oh wait... Nevermind.

 

gd it, he had a rib injury!

 

The co-main event was an incredibly brutal fight. I scored it for Matthysse through 10 rounds, 7-3 rounds, 96-91 points. I gave Molina the 1st, 2nd (10-8 for the knockdown), and 5th (10-9 despite Molina scoring another official knockdown); Matthysse won the 8th and 10th by 10-8 scores for official knockdowns in each round. Molina won the 1st for one HUGE right late in the round that rocked Matthysse; Matthysse otherwise outlanded him with a few big rights to the head and body. Molina won the 2nd for the short overhand right that buckled Matthysse's knees and sent him down; again, Matthysse otherwise outlanded him, with some potshotting rights to the head and body. In the 3rd, Matthysse started backing up Molina, landing two lefts to the head early, and subsequent hard rights to the head and body. Matthysse won the 4th by headhunting with single power lefts and rights throughout the round, and one power combo flurry late; Molina had one big right halfway through the round, and another at the bell. I gave Molina the 5th by a 10-9 score; Matthysse dominated the first half of the round with three hard rights alternating with three 2-punch combos to the head, Molina then scored a bogus knockdown with a grazing right behind Matthysse's head, then the two traded evenly for the rest of the round.

Rounds 6-8 were trench warfare, as Matthysse started pressuring Molina in close, the two nominally trading power shots to the head, but Matthysse greatly outlanding Molina in the process. Molina had occasional moments in these rounds, including a BIG right late in the 6th, and a good right halfway through the 7th. Matthysse scored a bogus knockdown in the 8th when he obviously pushed Molina to the canvas; it was incredible that referee Pat Russell gave Molina a count. Beginning in the 9th, Matthysse utterly dominated the rest of the fight. He did his most varied work in the 9th, with about a dozen hard single lefts to the head, mixed in with one good double jab, some rights to the head, his best body work of the fight, and some hard uppercuts; Molina could only answer with a single right halfway through the round, and another at the bell. In the 10th, Matthysse alternated power lefts with 5-6 separate L-R combos to the head, and scored a late knockdown due more to attrition than any one punch. The fight should have been stopped after the 10th, but Russell let Molina go out for the 11th, and in the first minute Matthysse landed a brutal 12-punch combo to the head, alternating lefts and rights, and Molina was down and out, no need for a count.

Considering that GBP seemed to design this card as a showcase for Matthysse and Thurman in anticipation of them fighting each other later this year, I was surprised when Matthysse said postfight that he wanted a rematch with Danny Garcia. I don't see that happening, as Garcia clearly won their fight, and is now planning to move up to 147 in probable anticipation of a future Mayweather fight. Matthysse might do best to move up to 147 himself, as his power would surely carry, and GBP has a deeper stable at 147 with bigger money fights.

 

Yes. I can easily see how standing there talking could be confused with jumping jacks.

 

Matthysse Vs. Molina was the best fight I have seen for a long time, will probably be the fight of the year. I have more respect for Matthysse than ever before..................his stamina is unreal!!!

 

my thoughts

figueroa-belmontes - too damn close...why in the world does omar not want to box...he didn't learn anything from the arakawa fight at all...and apparently it seems that his hands didn't survive that fight either as he threw with no conviction...belmontes in the first half of the fight baffled him with footwork, head movement, a nice jab..but what made this fight close was belmontes lowering his punch output even though he was connecting..what was BS was that 118-110 card for omar...again if omar was facing somebody with some power would have been taken out

matthysse-molina - leading FOTY candidate...i was expecting a total mismatch and I got a WAR!!!!!..one thing i will say is that molina should have committed to that jab more esp for his height and reach instead of letting lucas close the gap like he did..he had success doing that...i hope both of them got checked out thoroughly at the hospital eps molina...he was def slurring his speech in that post fight interview

thurman-diaz - anticlimactic and it was getting interesting too..esp that 3rd round where diaz wobbled thurman and IMO got the best of the exchanges but a broken rib is a broken rib....shame but he did what he was supposed to do...get him a serious opponent for his next fight