On September 14, 2013, ‘The One’ Pay-Per-View featuring Floyd Mayweather and Canelo Alvarez will have a very good co-feature on the undercard between Danny Garcia and Lucas Matthysse. The fight between Garcia and Matthysse is the fight plenty of hardcore fans have been salivating for. That fight in many regards is to find out who the consensus number 1 is at the Jr. Welterweight. Garcia and Matthysse are 1 and 1a in most boxing rankings at 140. But can they really be considered the best when the options of facing the top guys at 140 are limited because of the cold war between Top Rank and Golden Boy and because seemingly each promotion has aligned itself with a major network (Top Rank-HBO and Golden Boy-Showtime).
We posed the question to Brandon Rios who recently campaigned at 140 lbs and is now moving up to 147 lbs to face Manny Pacquiao, if there could ever be a consensus number 1 guy if things like the politics in boxing stop matchups from happening. “It obviously sucks because I would love to fight either guy, this is what I do, fight. I have a great manager in Cameron Dunkin who is the best in the business I’m making a good living. It does suck, I do want to fight the best at 140 and 147 and there’s good opposition on this side and there’s good competition on the other side. It does suck but that’s boxing,” stated Rios.
Rios is promoted by Top Rank and the other side he’s talking about in Golden Boy, who promotes Garcia and Matthysse. Even though he knows fights like that would never happen, he is a fan and like us is excited for the fight.
“That’s a 50-50 fight, I can’t pick a winner. We’re going to see how Danny (Garcia) handles a big punch to see if he has a chin. And we’re going to see if Lucas (Matthysse) can take a big punch because Danny Garcia can crack and we really haven’t seen Lucas’ chin tested. It’s 50-50 and it’s going to be a great fight and the fans are going to like it. I’m looking forward to that fight more than the Mayweather-Canelo.
Rios has a showdown of his own come this November when he faces Manny Pacquiao at 147 lbs on pay-per-view. A one over Pacquiao can catapult Rios into a much bigger star in the stratosphere. But even then at 147 lbs, the options are limited and the quest to say who the best is at 147 lbs will be an argument for debate because not everyone can face everyone. Rios can’t go fight the likes of Robert Guerrero, Victor Ortiz, Andre Berto, or even Floyd Mayweather Jr.
“I would love to fight the best and fighting Mayweather is the best but the promotions don’t work together so that probably won’t happen, but I’d love to fight anyone that’s considered the best. But right not it’s all about Manny Pacquiao and only him. The rest of the other stuff, what can I say, that’s part of the sport.”
For audio of this interview click here: http://thaboxingvoice.cogito24.com/danny-garcia-vs-lucas-matthysse-added-to-mayweather-vs-canelo-theone/16531
