Lucas Matthysse earned the nickname "The Machine" during a four-fight stretch in 2012 and 2013 when he destroyed all four reputable opponents in a row.
He bludgeoned his way to knockouts of Humberto Soto, Olusegun Ajose, Mike Dallas Jr. and, in a frightening display of ruthlessness, a third-round destruction of Lamont Peterson.
Matthysse owned an interim junior welterweight title, had a growing fan base and a reputation as one of the best punchers in boxing.
In his next fight, he was the favorite against unified junior welterweight champion Danny Garcia, but got knocked down for the first time in his career and lost a competitive unanimous decision.
Matthysse rebounded to win his next three fights in a row, including an exciting decision against former junior welterweight titlist Ruslan Provodnikov, to punch his way back into a title shot.
Again, he was the favorite when he squared off with Viktor Postol in October 2015 for a vacant junior welterweight belt. And again, everything went wrong for Matthysse.
Postol broke Matthysse's orbital bone, injured his cornea and knocked him out in the 10th round in a major upset.
Argentina's Matthysse took 19 months off, spent time healing, relaxing and enjoying his family. When he returned last May under the guidance of new trainer Joel Diaz, he looked good knocking out Emmanuel Taylor in the fifth round in his first fight as a welterweight on the Canelo Alvarez-Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. undercard.
Now Matthysse is set to fight again, hoping that the third time is the charm when it comes to winning an elusive world title as he gets set to face Thailand's unbeaten but unknown Tewa Kiram for a vacant welterweight belt on Saturday (HBO, 10:30 p.m. ET/PT) at The Forum in Inglewood, California.
The card kicks off the 22nd season of "Boxing After Dark," which debuted at The Forum on Feb. 3, 1996 with a main event that went down as one of the fights of the decade: Marco Antonio Barrera's epic 12th-round knockout of Kennedy McKinney to retain his junior featherweight world title.
The belt Matthysse (38-4, 35 KOs), 35, and Kiram (38-0, 28 KOs), 25, will vie for is the secondary variety to unified titleholder Keith Thurman's main title, but Matthysse is eager for the opportunity nonetheless.
"I feel I have earned this chance," Matthysse told ESPN. "I'm delighted to fight once again for a world title. I understand Thurman's position, and I respect him. He's had all these great fights, but he is injured now. And in the WBA there's always more than one champion, not like back in the day. So we have to make these make great fights so there can be one champion."
Matthysse said fans will see "The Machine" at work once again.
"When I went up to 147, I once again became the machine, and you will see the machine again this Saturday," he said. "I trained really hard, and I have a lot of desire to step in the ring and with this championship belt on the line."
Kiram has a tremendous record but has never faced a remotely top opponent nor has he ever boxed outside of his home country. But he's very big for a welterweight and has a stiff jab. He's also 10 years younger than Matthysse.
"He's not that well-known, has a really good record, he's ranked No. 1 (by the sanctioning body)," Matthysse said. "I've seen his videos on the internet. He's a good, strong fighter, works the jab very well, but we've been working on that. He is very big also.
"We know that he manages his distance well. We learned a few things, but I assure the fans that they will once again see 'The Machine' this Saturday."
Golden Boy Promotions president Eric Gomez, Matthysse's promoter, said: "Kiram is a monster. He's big. He's the biggest Thai guy I've ever met. He's aggressive, very aggressive, very good jab. It's going to be a good fight."
Kiram is aiming to do what countryman Srisaket Sor Rungvisai did last year, which is come to the United States as an unknown fighter and knock off a well-known fighter for a title. Sor Rungvisai edged Roman "Chocolatito" Gonzalez in a fight of the year contender to win a junior bantamweight world title in a huge upset and then brutally knocked him out in the rematch. Now he's a superstar in Thailand and one of boxing's biggest names in the smaller weights.
"It's a very big inspiration that he came over here fought and won the world title when nobody knew who he was," Kiram said of Sor Rungvisai. "But I know that I will follow in the same footsteps, and I'm also going to bring the title back to Thailand."
If all goes well for Matthysse, he would be the mandatory challenger for Thurman, although that fight would not take place any time soon. Matthysse would much prefer a rematch with Garcia, which is also a tough fight to make because of their affiliations.
"First things first. I don't want to lose focus," Matthysse said. "There's a lot of talent in the division including Danny Garcia. Absolutely, I want to fight him again."
Gomez said despite the problems making a fight like that, he is open to it if Matthysse wins.
"Matthysse's got about three or four good fights in him, and he's willing to fight anyone at 147. It starts on Saturday," Gomez said. "Garcia is a fight we're happy to make if Garcia's side wants to make it. That loss is a splinter in his spine. Lucas wants revenge. He wants to erase that. He felt it was a very close fight with Garcia, and he wants a rematch with Danny.
"The great thing about Golden Boy Promotions is we'll work with anybody. Anybody. So there are no guidelines, nothing keeping us from doing a fight with any other promoter. We'll explore every possibility and challenge everybody. Let them turn it down. We have no problem with working with any promoter with any fighter.
"Does Terence Crawford want to fight Matthysse? Fine, let's talk. Thurman, [Errol] Spence, anybody. No problem. As long as it's the right deal, no problem, we'll make it happen. If none of those fighters wants to fight Matthysse, it won't be because of us. But first Lucas has to win Saturday. He's worked very hard for this fight."
Linares defends against Gesta
In the televised opener, three-division world titleholder Jorge Linares (43-3, 27 KOs), a Venezuela native living in Las Vegas, will defend his lightweight world title for the third time and go for his 13th win in a row when he meets Mercito "No Mercy" Gesta (31-1-2, 17 KOs), a Philippines native fighting out of San Diego.
"I'm ready. I'm here to give a good fight. I'm not thinking about any other fight right now," said Linares, 32, who will be fighting at The Forum for the second time in a row, four months after he struggled to a split decision victory over mandatory challenger Luke Campbell in September. "Gesta is a tough fighter. He's a quick southpaw who is dangerous. It's very important to be victorious this Saturday. Bigger and better things will come with a victory this Saturday."
Linares and Golden Boy have previously talked about that "bigger and better" fight being a possible title unification bout with Mikey Garcia this summer as long as they both win their upcoming fights.
Gesta, a big underdog, is getting a second shot opportunity to fight for a lightweight world title. In 2012, he lost a one-sided decision to then-titleholder Miguel Vazquez. Gesta has been fairly inactive since, going 5-0-1 against nondescript opposition.
"I've grown a lot and learned a lot since 2012, when I first fought for a world title," said Gesta, 30, who is now trained by Hall of Famer Freddie Roach. "I learned how to take defeat, and I learned to make the most from my mistakes. Right now it's a matter of taking all that I learned and putting it into the ring.
"I'm not concerned with Jorge Linares' power, but he is fast and we're taking that into consideration. I've been studying and working on applying pressure, but smartly to avoid mistakes. ... This is my second shot at a title, and I'll make the most of it with a knockout victory."
http://www.espn.com/boxing/story/_/id/22225257/lucas-matthysse-eyes-elusive-welterweight-belt-tewa-kiram
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