By Nick Bellafatto Ringside
With a lingering jab thrown by Mike Dallas Jr.(19-3-1, 8 KO’s), that’s all the window of opportunity that Lucas Martin Matthysse (33-2, 31 KO’s) of Trelew, Argentina would need to land a devastating counter right hand that would end matters forthwith at “The Joint” inside Las Vegas, Nevada’s Hard Rock Hotel and Casino. The time was 2:26 of the very first round.
Stated Matthysse, “I took the time to throw the right. I had the future to lose if I lost this fight. I definitely want [Danny] Garcia to give me an opportunity, or any other top fighter at 140.”
Stepping up to the big time for the first time was too much too soon for Dallas Jr. of Bakersfield, California who would dedicate this fight to his recently passed father. All is not lost for “The Silent Assassin” this night in taking on the world’s number one junior welterweight, but looking shaky upon exiting the venue he definitely has to regroup and assess his situation.
As for Matthysse, he would retain his WBC junior welterweight interim title in hopes of taking on the winner between Ring Magazine champion Danny Garcia and Zab Judah who are set to clash February 9th at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center.
Karass decisions Aydin
In a special co-feature ten-round attraction, former number 1 dropped to number 3 welterweight contender and once beaten Selcuk “Mini Tyson” Aydin (23-2, 17 KO’s) of Trabzon, Turkey would suffer his second loss in a row to stalwart fighter Jesus Soto Karass (27-8-3, 17 KO’s) of Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico who would garner a majority decision by scores of 97-93 twice, with an astonishing 95-95 draw score that’s hard to fathom.
Bouncing back after his stoppage loss to hard hitting Marcos “El Chino” Maidana, Karass would early on discourage his latest opponent by way of walking through the Ottoman fighter’s intermittent bombs without so much as blinking. “We tried to box to start the fight but then we changed plans,” stated a jubilant Karass.
With Aydin himself looking to get back on track after surrendering his WBC 147 pound interim title to Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero one fight previous, the Turk who is usually the hunter would become the hunted this night. Karass would simply stalk his opponent from start to finish, endlessly mixing solid shots to both body and head to outwork, outpoint, and otherwise maintain control of the usually come forward banger in a reversal of roles.
Aydin with the loss will no doubt fall further in the rankings as a result of what was a visibly one-sided affair while Karass looks forward to another decent pay day in the offing with this hard earned victory.
Charlo Kayo’s Yorgey
Jermell “Iron Man” Charlo (20-0, 10 KO’s) of Houston, Texas, not to be confused with twin brother Jermall who fought earlier on the card, would for the vacant WBC Continental America’s junior middleweight title stop Bridgeport, PA’s Harry Joe Yorgey (25-2-1, 12 KO’s) who walked into a flush right hand at 1:09 of round 8 that dropped him to the canvass for the ten-count.
“I felt like I did the best I could do,” said Charlo. “I knew this was mine from the get go.”
Yorgey, mainly posing early on, would remain on the end of the lengthier Charlo’s punches for the most part, the wrong place to be as with an effective double jab-right hand Jermell would drop Harry Joe in the second round, as well as rock him with that same combo on numerous other occasions. The Bridgeport fighter was rather more effective at short range, but with no sense of urgency to let his hands go at close quarters, that tentative approach on the part of Yorgey would allow Jermell to have his way en-route to capturing his first ever title.
