IBF junior welterweight champion Subriel Matias 20-1 (20) retained his title with a fifth-round knockout of mandatory challenger Shohjahon Ergashev 23-1 (20) at the Michelob Ultra Arena at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada on Saturday night.
The 31-year-old Puerto Rican, who was making the first defence of the belt he won by fifth-round knockout against previously undefeated Jeremias Ponce 31-1 (21) in February, admitted before the fight that it takes him a few rounds to adjust to southpaws and that proved to be true against the left-handed Ergashev, a 31-year-old Uzbek who goes by the nickname ‘Descendant of Tamerlane’.
Ergashev started the fight well but once Matias got dialed in, it was only a matter of time.
Matias wrested control of the bout in the fourth round and increased the punishment in the fifth. A dazed and confused Ergashev returned to his stool and stayed there when the bell sounded to start the sixth.
Much of the bout was contested at close quarters with Ergashev clearly backing his own power to wilt Matias before the champion got to him. It was a game plan that ultimately did not work out in his favour.
Matias said he was happy to weather the early storm, confident that Ergashev could not hurt him.
“It’s my team that makes that happen,” he said. “I knew he didn’t have the power to knock me out… so that’s when I knew I could start to attack.
“For a southpaw I need three or four rounds to decipher them and then what you saw tonight is usually what happens.”
After the bout Matias called up a big name that lurks just one division south of where he campaigns.
“Gervonta Davis, come over here and fight!” he said.
Before the fight Matias said his loss to Petros Ananyan three years ago served as a wake-up call and forced him to rededicate himself to his career.
“The Subriel Matias that you saw in 2020 is nothing like the one that you’re gonna see right now,” he said.
“Like right now, I’m at 300 percent compared to the one that was in Vegas in 2020, where I admit that, you know, that I was smoking a lot of pot. I had vices that didn’t allow me to be at a hundred percent. But now, 300 percent and ready to show the fans that the champ is here and ready to put on a great show.”
Matias continued: “I can’t say that I consider myself the favourite. What I do have is the confidence in myself after what I’ve done in training camp. But to say that I’m a big favorite would be assuming a lot of things considering that boxing is unpredictable.
“Look at what Ananyan did in 2020. So I am not about to underestimate my opponent and I am gonna go out there and bear the fruits of my preparation.”