Fans poured into the Stubhub Center and watched Showtime at home expecting to see Keith Thurman deliver the KO of the night. Boy were they wrong.
What’s easily the fight of the year so far was staged before the main event even occurred. Lucas Matthysse was looking to bounce back from his loss to Danny Garcia against relatively unknown John Molina Jr. Molina showed in the early rounds why now he’ll be an attraction in every card he fights on from here on out. He brought the fight to Matthysse, shocking the entire boxing world by dropping him twice within the first 6 rounds.
Molina had a commanding lead entering the 8th round and thats when momentum swung towards Matthysse. He attacked Molina relentlessly and completely eliminated Molina’s reach advantage by closing off the ring and keeping him against the ropes. Matthysse completed the best comeback of his career by dropping Molina once in the 8th and another time in the 10th.
Matthysse finished the fight in the 11th with a thundering right hand. This fight will probably win fight of the year for 2014 and set Matthysse up for a rematch against Danny Garcia.
In comparison the main event was quite uneventful. Keith Thurman toyed with his opponent Julio Diaz for the first two rounds, displaying some defensive skills but also swinging wildly. In the 3rd round Diaz opened up his hands and had some tough exchanges with Thurman but unfortunately it opened him up to punishment. Thurman landed an uppercut to the ribs of Diaz towards the end of the 3rd round which ended up being the ending blow.
Diaz’s corner called it quits after the round and Thurman now looks ahead to better competition.
Other Decision:
Omar Figueroa def Jerry Belmontes by Split Decision
