Lucas Matthysse will take on Viktor Postol for the vacant WBC Super Lightweight title on October 3 in Carson, California and will be televised by HBO, according to Dan Rafael of espn.com
“There’s a deal in place, and we have the arena reserved. It’s going to be a great fight,” Golden Boy Promotions president Oscar De La Hoya told ESPN.com after cutting a deal with Top Rank, which co-promotes Postol with Ukraine’s Elite Promotions. “The way I see it, any Lucas Matthysse fight … always calls for action. We’ve seen him in wars. We don’t know much about Postol. The United States hasn’t seen him in wars, but come Oct. 3, people are going to know Postol and know he is a strong fighter.”
“It’s a really interesting fight, style-wise,” said Top Rank vice president Carl Moretti, who negotiated the deal with Golden Boy’s Eric Gomez. “You have a long, tall, strong fighter in Postol, who would give any 140-pounder problems. And Matthysse is clearly one of the top 140-pounders in the world. Just because Postol isn’t well known doesn’t mean he isn’t one of the top 140-pounders as well.”
The fight will headline an HBO-televised doubleheader, although De La Hoya said he is still in the process of finalizing the deal with the network.
“We’re working through it, but it will get done,” De La Hoya said.
De La Hoya said the co-feature will be another junior welterweight bout, this one matching hot prospect Antonio Orozco and veteran contender Humberto Soto, a former junior lightweight and lightweight world titleholder.
“It was a great knockout and it shows you that Postol has the ability to do that, and Matthysse isn’t the hardest guy in the world to hit, so it should be interesting,” Moretti said.
Added De La Hoya, “It calls for an entertaining fight, a fight with a lot of action. This is the perfect fight at the perfect venue. Matthysse is exciting. He’s a power puncher. So it should be a dangerous fight for both guys, which is what Golden Boy is all about.
“I know Postol is a strong fighter, but at the same time, he has that long reach and that long jab, which makes him dangerous. It’s going to be up to Matthysse to break him down, figure him out and make the fight work in his favor.”
De La Hoya said Soto’s knee is healed and that he will be prepared for Orozco.
“He’s had a couple of bad-luck situations recently, but he’s motivated and ready to go,” De La Hoya said. “We feel Orozco is ready for this kind of fight. We feel this is the perfect step for him. It’s dangerous fight for both guys, but it’s a great fight for the fans.
