(Photo credit: Naoki Fakuda) Bernard Hopkins was very impressed with the power that he saw from WBC interim light welterweight champion Lucas Matthysse (34-2, 32 KO’s) in his 3rd round TKO win over Lamont Peterson (31-2-1, 16 KO’s) last night. Hopkins compared Matthysse’s power to that of a heavyweight due to his three knockdowns of the normally strong-chinned Peterson.
Hopkins said after the fight “I’ve never seen a light welterweight punch like a heavyweight. I’m very impressed. This is the real deal. There’s a lot of people worried at 140. They’re not sleeping good tonight.”
One of those people in the 140 lb. division who may not be sleeping well now is WBA/WBC light welterweight champion Danny Garcia because he’s going to have to fight Matthysse in September in Washington, DC, unless Garcia chooses to duck the fight and let the World Boxing Council strip him of his title for failing to fight his mandatory challenger for ages.