Matthysse vs. Kiram prediction by Lederman

By Tim Royner: Lucas Matthysse (38-4, 35 KOs) will be scoring a knockout this Saturday night in fight against Tewa Kiram (38-0, 28 KOs), according to HBO’s Harold Lederman. He sees 35-year-old Matthysse stopping the much younger and taller 25-year-old Tewa in their contest for the vacant WBA World welterweight title on HBO Boxing After Dark at The Forum in Inglewood, California.

(Photo credit: Tom Hogan-Hoganphotos/Golden Boy Promotions)

Lederman isn’t the only one that sees Matthysse knocking out the undefeated Kiram. A lot of boxing fans see this as a straight up demolition job for Matthysse, as Kiram does not look like a talented fighter. Kiram looks more like a fighter with a horribly padded resume of fodder opposition, and it’s anyone’s guess why the World Boxing Association chose to rank him No.1 with their organization.

The WBA has Kiram ranked above Danny Garcia, Matthysse and Terence Crawford. I suppose if Errol Spence Jr. wasn’t a world champion now, the WBA would have Kiram ranked above him too. The WBA is going to have pie on their face this Saturday if Matthysse smashes Kiram like many think he will.

“January the 27th, very interesting doubleheader,” said Lederman. ”Lucas Matthysse’s a very, very good fighter, he’s a thunderous puncher. Matthysse is taking on Tewa Kiram from Thailand. Kiram is 38-0 but all 38 fights have been in Thailand. He’s never fought a big opponent such as Matthysse. I really expect a knockout in this fight. I think Matthysse is gonna win by KO.” Lederman said.

When you see a fighter that has never left their country to fight like Kiram, it sends a red flag that he might have a padded record of soft jobs. WBC super flyweight champion Srisaket Sor Rungvisai has also fought many of his fights in Thailand, but the difference with him is he’s fought a lot of fights outside of Thailand. Rungvisai was tested against a lot of talented fighters before he fought Roman ‘Chocolatito’ Gonzalez twice.

The winner of the Matthysse vs. Kiram fight will eventually wind up facing the WBA Super champion, which is currently Keith ‘One Time’ Thurman. I don’t know how much longer Thurman will hold onto his titles. He’s going to be facing Jessie Vargas, Shawn Porter and Danny Garcia this year if he stays healthy and keeps winning.

If the winner of the Matthysse-Kiram match is able to defend their WBA title until next year, then they’ll have a good chance to fight Thurman or whoever holds his WBA title by next year. Matthysse wants a rematch against Danny Garcia. If Garcia beats Thurman in a rematch, then he could face Matthysse again if he defeats Kiram.

”I know that Tewa Kiram is a hard puncher and can fight on the outside, but on Jan. 27 I’ll become world champion,” said Matthysse. ”I’ve beaten the best at 140 pounds, and now I’ll beat the best at 147 pounds. A win against Kiram will put me at the top of the division.”

In watching Kiram workout, it looks clear that he’s going to try and fight the 35-year-old Matthysse from the outside in the same manner that Danny Garcia did in September 2013. Garcia used his excellent jab to land frequently to the head of Matthysse when he had him on the outside. Garcia moved a lot, and he would push off when Matthysse would get in punching range. Garcia employed a lot of fouling with his shoving and especially with his strategic use of low blows. The referee was there watching the action on the night, but he wasn’t controlling the fouling by Garcia.

If Kiram fouls Matthysse at the same rate that Garcia did, he’ll have a chance of beating him. But he doesn’t possess the same jab or powerful left hook that Garcia had in that fight. It’s going to be much more difficult for Kiram to beat Matthysse. Unlike Garcia, Kiram doesn’t have a lot of experience at the pro and amateur level to fall back on for him to be prepared for the kind of offensive power and boxing skills that Matthysse will be bringing to this fight. Despite having a 38-0 record, Kiram is more of a novice than a guy with that kind of record. If you take away all the weak opponents that Kram has fought to compile his 38-0 record, you’re left with a fighter making his pro debut at 0-0. Kiram is a novice in experience, and he doesn’t look like a very good one. This fight is more about Matthysse being crowned as a champion by the WBA than a fight that has any chance of being competitive. Matthysse’s last opponent Emmanuel Taylor would likely beat Kiram. The WBA has dropped the ball in ranking Kiram at No.1 instead of the more talented Terence Crawford, Danny Garcia or Matthysse.

On the same card on Saturday night on HBO, WBA lightweight champion Jorge Linares will be fighting Mercito Gesta in another match that Lederman expects will be won by the A-side fighter Linares by knockout. This one is a planned mismatch, as Linares’ promoters at Golden Boy selected Gesta from the No.15 spot in the WBA rankings for this fight.

“Jorge Linares is fighting Mercito Gesta on the undercard, and I really expect Linares to win this fight by knockout,” said Lederman. I just think that Matthysse and Linares are very, very big punchers. Two of the best fighters in the world and I really expect two knockouts on this show in January.”