Lucas Matthysse vs Emmanuel Taylor Preview May 6th
Lucas Matthysse of Argentina will be taking on Emmanuel Taylor of Maryland in a 10-round welterweight bout at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada this Saturday, May 6th. The bout is on the undercard of the Canelo Alvarez vs Julio Cesar Chavez contest which can be seen on HBO pay-per-view in North America and on BoxNation and BT Sports in the UK. Matthysse hasn’t fought since October of 2015 when he was stopped in the 10th round by Viktor Postol for the vacant WBC Super Lightweight Title. Taylor’s last fight was a third-round Ko win over Carlos Aguilera last August.
Matthysse vs Taylor Odds
Here are the winner odds from online sportsbook 5dimes.eu
- Emmanuel Taylor +350
- Lucas Matthysse -530
My Pick
The 34-year-old Matthysse enters the ring with a record of 37-4 along with 34 Kos. He has a good chin even though he’s been dropped a couple of times and was stopped by Postol, but it’s definitely not made of granite. Matthysse isn’t the tallest welterweight around as he’s just over 5-foot-6 with a 69-inch reach and struggles against taller fighters. His four losses have been against Postol, Danny Garcia, Devon Alexander and Zab Judah with the latter three being by controversial decisions.
Matthysse prefers opponents who stand in front of him and attack rather than those who attempt to box him, but his opponent on Saturday night is more likely to use his boxing skills instead of getting into a toe-to-toe brawl. This means Matthysse is going to have to work use get close to Taylor and do some damage. Matthysse is usually a slow starter though and he can’t afford to do that against Taylor as he needs to get out of the gate early and establish his power by letting hands go early on.
Matthysse’s got decent boxing skills, but he’s best known for his power as he owns a knockout ratio of 81 per cent. He’s never out of a fight no matter what the scorecards are due to his power. His biggest wins have been against Ruslan Provodnikov, Roberto Ortiz, John Molina Jr., Lamont Peterson, Humberto Soto, Mike Dallas Jr., De Marcus Corley and Vivian Harris. Matthysse has plenty of experience with 176 rounds under his belt since making his pro debut back in 2004.
The 26-year-old Taylor is 20-4 with 14 Kos. He has an inch height advantage at 5-feet-7.5-inches, but has a four-inch shorter reach. He turned pro in 2009 and has boxed 124 rounds since then. He’s not known as big puncher, but has a pretty good knockout ratio of 58 per cent. Taylor also has a solid chin as he’s never been stopped. Taylor’s toughest fights have been against Adrien Broner, Chris Algieri, Antonio Orozco and Prenice Brewer, who all beat him by decision.
Taylor’s biggest wins have been against Karim Mayfield, Victor Manuel Cayo and Raymond Serrano. He has relatively fast hands, but he may be a bit too defensive at times and doesn’t let his hands go as often as he should. He’d rather counterpunch than take the initiative and that could get him in trouble with a big banger like Matthysse. Taylor hasn’t beaten a Grade A opponent as of yet, but has been competitive against them.
Prediction…
Matthysse will have some ring rust to get through and this is a huge fight for him if he hopes to get another title shot. Taylor’s a solid opponent who can’t be taken lightly, but has fallen just short when moving up in class. I think Matthysse’s going to have his hands full here and the longer it goes the more it will favour Taylor. With his career being on the line here though, let’s go with Matthysse.
This should be a close fight and a Taylor win is possible.
Play: Matthysse -530 @ 5dimes.eu
Check out my recent boxing betting picks to see my current form.
Emmanuel Taylor betting • Lucas Matthysse betting