19.11.05 – It’s official! Long-standing rivals Jozsef Matolcsi and Austria hero Gotthard Hinteregger will meet in a rubber match, which takes place as soon as December 9 in Scotland – and the biggest dream of ‘The Cougar’, as Hinteregger is nicknamed, is about to finally come true at the ripe old age of 38, because the price for the winner is going to be the WBF ‘world’ superwelterweight title!
Manager Olaf Schroeder of Fight Production was working feverishly behind the scenes after Hinteregger had lost his IBF Intercontinental title to Marco Schulze in October and came up with the goods! “When Olaf first told me about his idea of a third fight with Matolcsi, I thought it was a bit crazy,” said the 25-8-1 (12 KO’s) Vienna native, “but after some hours, it started to make more and more sense and I told Olaf that same day ‘Go ahead, let’s see who will win our series’. The fact that it’s for the vacant WBF title is just great, great, great.”
When Matolcsi’s Polish promoter Krzysztof Zbarski contacted Hungarian television channel RTL Klub, they immediately gave the ‘Thumps Up’ for December 9 in Kirkcaldy, Scotland and Zbarski quickly came to an agreement with reigning WBF champion Brice Faradji (the Frenchman had outpointed Matolcsi for the title), who voluntarily stepped aside to allow Hinteregger vs Matolcsi III to be for his title in exchange for Faradji becoming mandatory challenger for the eventual winner.
The first two fights between the pair were classics, so it came as no surprise that RTL Klub wanted to televise the rubber match and decisions came about more quickly than boxing is accustomed to. In October 2004 in England, Hinteregger more or less played with Matolcsi, knocking him down four times – only to catch a home-run left hook that was screaming murder from the Hungarian in round eight. Fight over! The fact that this thriller was voted IBF Intercontinental Fight of the Year and Boxing News British Fight of the Year # 2 was little consolation for the hard-luck hero from Austria. However, in April of this year, Hinteregger sensationally came back to gain revange in a no-knockdown affair in Germany (for both the WBO and IBF Intercontinental titles), which ended in a hotly disputed 12-round split decision. Now both are gearing up to find out once and for all who the champion is… If their history is anything to go by, Scottish fans are in for a real treat.