Lucas Matthysse's Draining KO of John Molina Was One of the Fights of the Year

Lucas Matthysse is one of the top light welterweight fighters in the world. He sports a career record of 36-3, and 34 of the powerful puncher’s wins are by knockout. Knowing all this, it would be easy to look at his knockout of John Molina in April (he’s since added another, over Roberto Ortiz in September) as just another day at the office.

But those who saw the fight know better. They watched Molina put Matthysse on the brink, only for Matthysse to find another gear and finally get Molina on the canvas. They saw two fighters give everything they had and trade vicious punches for 11 rounds. They saw one of the best fights of 2014.

Molina put Matthysse on the canvas twice:

One of the knockdowns was dubious, but getting Matthysse on the ground at all is an accomplishment – he’s never been knocked out. Of course, Molina didn’t knock Matthysse out either …

And Matthysse found his form.

He mercilessly peppered Molina with punches …

And Molina went down for good in the 11th round.

So yes, Matthysse finished the night with one more KO in a career full of them. But this one was especially tough to get. Both he and Molina were bloodied by fight’s end, but neither gave in. They pushed each other, and themselves, as hard as they could as long as they were in the ring, and though only Matthysse left with a win, they both left knowing they’d put in one of the best efforts of the year.