Both Lucas Matthysse and Danny Garcia are heavy hitters, and they will each rely upon their power on Saturday to pull off the win.
When it comes to raw power, Matthysse and Garcia are probably the two best boxers in the junior welterweight division. Matthysse is 34-2 with an incredible 32 knockouts over his career, while Garcia is undefeated at 26-0 with 16 career knockouts.
Mathysse is the more powerful boxer of the two, and those 32 knockouts prove that. He relies a lot on his power punches, which we saw a lot of in his last fight.
Back in May, Mathysse took on Lamont Peterson, who entered the fight with a 31-1-1 record. Mathysse went at it, knocking him out in just the third round. Peterson had never been knocked down before in his career, yet he was knocked down three times in the defeat.
The numbers provided by Compubox help tell the story. Of Matthysse's 32 shots landed, 31 of them were power shots. He's so good at knocking out his opponents, he actually has the highest percentage of knockouts currently in boxing.
On the other side of this matchup, Garcia comes in with some power of his own. He isn't as powerful as Matthysse, but he is a better all-around boxer.
Still, Garcia showed some pop in his gloves in his previous bout. He was able to land 189 of 467 total power punches with a connection rate of 40 percent, according to Compubox. Not only that, he averaged 15 power punches per round and finished with 112 more powerful blows than his opponent, Zab Judah.
The knock on Matthyse has been that he's yet to face a fighter with a tough chin, meaning that a lot of those knockouts have just been due to weaker opponents. Still, when you have 32 knockouts in 36 career fights, you have to have some power behind those gloves. He has power behind both his right and left hands, and his ability to mix up his punches can leave Garcia guessing on Saturday.
For Garcia, he will certainly have some power, but he prefers to focus on getting combinations on his opponent rather than single big-time blows. He likes to have a more well-rounded approach than Matthysse, but his opponent will be looking for any opening to make this a short fight.
Both guys pack a heck of a punch, and this is likely going to be an exciting slugfest. All of the hype may be going toward Floyd Mayweather and Canelo Alvarez, but this fight is going to have a lot of people talking when it's all said and done.
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