Lucas Matthysse vs Tewa Kiram Betting Odds and Prediction

Lucas Matthysse vs Tewa Kiram Preview Jan. 27th

The vacant WBA Welterweight Title is on the line this Saturday, January 27^th at the Forum in Inglewood, California as Lucas Matthysse of Argentina takes on undefeated Tewa Kiram of Thailand. The 12-round bout can be seen live in North America on HBO while fans in the UK and Ireland can catch in on BoxNation. Matthysse last fought in May when he stopped Emmanuel Taylor in the fifth round. Kiram’s last outing came back in July when he beat Ramadhani Shauri by a 12-round unanimous decision.

Matthysse vs Kiram Betting Odds

Here are the betting odds from online sportsbook BetOnline.ag (full review here).

• Tewa Kiram +775
• Lucas Matthysse -1200

My Pick

Matthysse’s last attempt at a world title came in October of 2015 when he was stopped in the 10th round by Viktor Postol for the vacant WBC Super Lightweight Crown. He’s now 35 years old and enters the ring with a 38-4 mark along with 35 Kos. He has a pretty 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-feet-6-inches 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 all 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 to close the gap and do some damage. Matthysse is usually a slow starter, but can’t afford to do that against Kiram as he needs to get out of the gate early and establish his power by letting hands go.

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 one of the hardest punchers of his generation and is never out of a fight no matter what the scorecards are due to his power. His biggest wins have been against Taylor, 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 181 rounds under his belt since making his pro debut back in 2004.

The 25-year-old Kiram, who’s also known as Teerachai Kratingdaenggym, is a virtual unknown outside of Asia, but will climb into the ring with a perfect record of 38-0 along with 28 Kos. He turned pro back in 2008 when he was just 15 years old and already has 232 rounds of pro experience under his belt. He’s obviously a pretty hard hitter no matter who his opponents have been since he carries around a current knockout ratio of an impressive 74 per cent. Unfortunately, both his height and reach are unlisted, so we don’t have much to go on.

Kiram has won several regional titles in Asia, but this will be his first shot at a world title. He’s got plenty of experience for his age and has been a sparring partner for Manny Pacquiao in the past. He can’t be written off just because he’s fought mainly in Thailand since we all saw his fellow countryman Srisaket Sor Rungvisai beat Roman Chocolatito Gonzalez twice as a virtual unknown.

Prediction…

We’ve seen Matthysse been outboxed and we’ve also seen him stopped in the past, but he’s still one of the best welterweights out there due to his style and power. Kiram likes to use his jab and has a pretty good right hand and let’s not forget he’s 10 years younger than Matthysse. I’m going with Matthysse though and mainly because I don’t know enough about Kiram since he’s based in Asia. However, if he wins it won’t come as a big surprise based on what Srisaket Sor Rungvisai did to Chocolatito twice.

No outcome will be a surprise, but I’ll go with Matthysse since there’s little known about Kiram.

Play: Matthysse -1200 @ BetOnline.ag

Check out my recent boxing betting picks to see my current form

Lucas Matthysse betting • Tewa Kiram betting