Matias vs Ponce Could Outdo An Already Terrific Start To Boxing In 2023
Matias vs Ponce Has Been Labelled As A Guaranteed Fight Of The Year Contender
A potential fight of the year will take place in Minneapolis on Saturday. Knockout artist Subriel Matias (14-1, 14KOs) will face off against unbeaten pressure fighter Jermias Ponce (30-0 20KOs), in a battle for the vacant IBF Super Lightweight Title.
Puerto Rican Matias has long been touted as a future force at 140lbs, having first attracted mainstream attention in 2018, when he stopped Fernando David Saucedo, on the undercard of Regis Prograis vs Terry Flangan. He followed this up with 3 impressive wins. Then disaster struck for ‘El Orgullo de Maternillo’ or ‘The Pride of Maternillo.’
On the 22nd February 2020, on the undercard of Wilder-Fury 2, Matias was dropped in the 7th on the way to a decision loss to journeyman Russian, Petros Ananyan. Matias has however bounced back from his sole defeat, with two impressive wins against unbeaten opponents, and in his last outing in January 2022, stopping Ananyan in a rematch.
Jeremias Ponce will be well known to UK fight fans, for being the man that handed a brutal beat down to popular Newcastle fighter Lewis Ritson in 2021, live on Sky Sports. The Argentines’ relentless work rate and high volume completed took the fight out of Ritson, who went down 3 times to body shots in the 10th round, in a stoppage that sparked much controversy, as referee Steve Gray threw ‘The Sandman’s’ towel out of the ring, allowing the geordie to be knocked down twice more.
Before the bout with Ritson, Ponce’s career had been rather hidden away, fighting all of his bouts, except one, in his homeland. The one bout away from South America, was in Germany, in which Ponce won a Majority Decision against home favourite Rico Mueller. A win which catapulted him into the IBF top 15.
140lbs has been blown open by former undisputed champion Josh Taylor vacating 3 of his 4 titles. With the winner of Saturday night’s title fight potentially looking to unify against fellow PBC fighter and newly crowned WBA champion Alberto Puello, or even a bout against WBC champion Regis Prograis.
Looking at the styles of the two men involved in Saturday’s headliner. It seems impossible that this fight will not deliver a spectacular evening’s entertainment. With the eventual winner and loser both having huge futures in a division.