Adrien Broner put his foot down in order to obtain home field advantage in the city of Cincinnati against the sturdy Emmanuel Taylor. Coming off a fight of the year win, Lucas Matthysse takes on Roberto Ortiz, who has never lost a fight as a professional. The Showtime tripleheader’s first bout will be between Andre Berto and Steve Upsher Chambers.
In his last fight Adrien Broner was unspectacular, ho-humming his way to a decision versus Carlos Molina. Many fans craved for Broner to face a top flight junior welterweight. Instead he will face Emmanuel Taylor, who is fresh off his best victory over Karim Mayfield.
As Broner’s star began to rise many media members and followers of the sweet science overrated him. His close points win against Ponce De Leon was chalked up as a learning experience.
After the Ponce scare, Golden Boy/Al Haymon pumped the breaks with Broner from a competition standpoint. He won his first title against a nondescript opponent and was safely moved, with Antonio Demarco at 135 being his only real fight until he got to welterweight.
Malignaggi pushed him to the limit and in his next he was exposed further by Marcos Maidana. The majority of boxing fans want Broner to get beat again so they have voiced their displeasure for Taylor being his next challenge. Many don’t see this fight as a challenge but I beg to differ.
Taylor is no Rod Salka and is a step up from Carlos Molina. In 2011, Taylor came up short in a split-decision loss to a prospect. He has since when on to beat a few decent vets like Victor Cayo.
He fought valiantly against Chris Algieri and beat a very solid Mayfield, who has a win over another underrated fighter Mauricio Herrera, before losing to Thomas Dulorme. My point is this guy has more than a pulse and Broner’s power at 140 and 147 is not the same as it was at 130 and 135.
Can Taylor create any real problems for Broner? He will have to box and bang while maintaining a constant flow of activity the way Pualie Malignaggi did. He has the skills to make things difficult but for how long is the question.
The co-feature should give us some back and forth action. It’s just a matter of how many clean punches can Roberto Ortiz take before his inexperience in top level fights rears its ugly head.
Will a weak resume cause Roberto to feel the wrath of the Machine? Probably, because he has never faced anyone close to the caliber of a Lucas Matthysse, or some of the other rugged guys at the weight class like Garcia, Rios, and Provodnikov to name a few.
Matthysse is a comfortable favorite heading into Saturday night. Playing devil’s advocate one could point out that “The Machine” went life and death with a career lightweight. He was knocked down twice in his last fight, and once in the fight before that.
We will find out how accurate Ortiz’s KO ratio is when stepping up from prospect level fights to the top tier of a deep and heavy-handed division at 140.
Judging by his past fights and the style in which he fights I’m gonna guess that it will be a relatively short night. Ortiz does have a decent jab and has shown he can be responsible on defense. If he lands that jab to the head and to the stomach it could frustrate or at least slow Matthysse.
Roberto will need to improve his work-rate and limit the number of times he opens up in exchanges. The way he uses his footwork for distance will be important. His biggest flaw is the habit of lunging while punching. Sounds like a moving vehicular violation I know, but judging by his fight with Reyes Sanchez it’s almost certain he will get violated.
Matthysse’s style lends itself to getting hit so we could get a two-way fight until the Machine’s power takes over. I see this being an entertaining fight for maybe 3 to 5 rounds, than it will turn one-sided.
My official prediction is Adrien Broner by Decision and Lucas Matthysse by mid to late knockout.
Written by Chris Carlson Owner and Host of Rope A Dope Radio at www.blogtalkradio.com/ropeadoperadio Follow Chris on Twitter @RopeADopeRadio
