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The vacant WBA world welterweight title will be on the line Saturday night, as Lucas Matthysse and Tewa Kiram meet for a showdown inside the Forum in Inglewood, California.
The main card (which also features Jorge Linares vs Marcito Gesta for the WBA World Lightweight title) is scheduled to start at 10:30 p.m. ET/PT and will be broadcast on HBO. If you don’t have cable or can’t get to a TV, you can watch HBO online, on your phone or on another streaming device via one of the following cable-free, live-TV streaming services. They cost a monthly fee but all come with a free trial, so you can watch tonight’s fights at no cost:
Amazon Prime: If you have Amazon Prime or want to start a free 30-day trial of Amazon Prime, you can watch live HBO and all of HBO’s on-demand content through Amazon Channels. The HBO channel costs $14.99 per month. It comes with a free 7-day trial, and you can watch on your computer via Amazon’s website, or on your phone, tablet or streaming device via the Amazon Video app
DirecTV Now: HBO is a $5 per month add-on that can be added to any of DirecTV Now’s four channel packages. It comes with a free 7-day trial no matter what package you choose, and you can watch on your computer via the DirecTV Now website, or on your phone, tablet or streaming device via the DirecTV Now app
Sling TV: HBO is a $15 per month add-on that can be added to either of Sling TV’s base packages. It comes with a free 7-day trial, and you can watch on your computer via the Sling TV website, or on your phone, tablet or streaming device via the Sling TV app
Preview
This is a world title fight, sure, but it’s also intriguing because you have one guy in Matthysse, who is certainly well known in the boxing world, and you have another guy in Kiram, who has limited footage of his fights available. Matthysse’s last 10 fights have all been in the United States, while Kiram has fought exclusively in Thailand and will be participating in his first professional bout inside the US.
Still, Matthysse has done his research.
“We’ve got some tape. We know [Kiram’s] big and he knows how to work the distance, but we’ve done a great camp here,” said the 35-year-old Argentinian. “I’ve done all these sacrifices for my family, all the people who mean so much to me, and that’s why I’m going to get the title.”
With losses to Danny Garcia (September 2013) and Viktor Postol (October 2015) in his previous two world title fights, this will be Matthysse’s third shot at a belt. This one will be a little different, though, as he made the move up to welterweight following the loss to Postol. He won his debut fight at 147 pounds with a fifth-round TKO of Emmanuel Taylor last May and will enter this fight with confidence.
“You learn from your mistakes. I learned I might’ve trained too hard for the Postol fight. I was a little too tired. You learn every time you fail. Now, I feel the best moment of my career has not arrived yet. On [Saturday], it will arrive.”
Kiram, who is ranked as the No. 1 WBA challenger at 147 pounds, stands at 38-0-0 with 28 knockouts, though it’s difficult to decipher to legitimacy of that record because he has yet anyone near the quality of Matthysse. Still, though, he has shown compelling talent, and if Matthysse takes him for granted, it could mean trouble for The Machine.
In the co-main event, Jorge Linares, who has won 12 fights in a row and defended his WBA lightweight title twice in 2017, will put his belt on the line against Mercito Gesta, who is 31-1-2.