Lucas Matthysse was briefly blinded at knockdown, Golden Boy exec says

Lucas Matthysse told his promoters after his surprising knockout loss to new World Boxing Council super-lightweight champion Viktor Postol that he was temporarily blinded by the 10^th-round punch that knocked him down.

“He was blind for about 10 to 20 seconds,” said executive Eric Gomez, Golden Boy Promotions’ matchmaker. “It freaked him out, scared him. When he was resting there on his knee, he waited for his sight to come back, but it wouldn’t come back.”

Matthysse (37-4, 34 knockouts) stayed down, allowing referee Jack Reiss to count him out Saturday night in the HBO-televised fight at StubHub Center in Carson. At the time, Matthysse led on one scorecard and trailed by one point on the two others.

“He got hit right in the [left] socket, lost his vision -- obviously, very traumatic,” Gomez said. “For a split second, Lucas said he thought he was blind. He told me, ‘I’ve been hit harder, but when I lost my vision, I was very concerned.’ ”

Matthysse was cleared by physicians after the bout, Gomez said, and the boxer will undergo a full battery of scans and retinal screens beginning Wednesday to ensure he can return to the ring.

The defeat not only cost Matthysse a chance to win his first world title, but also took him out of the running to be Manny Pacquiao’s next opponent.

Bob Arum, Pacquiao’s promoter, told the Los Angeles Times after the bout that Matthysse’s loss trimmed the contenders to favored Amir Khan, Pacquiao’s longtime rival Juan Manuel Marquez, 2014 fighter of the year Terence Crawford, England’s Kell Brook and -- more remotely -- the winner of the Nov. 7 Timothy Bradley-Brandon Rios bout in Las Vegas.

Arum said he will meet with Pacquiao to discuss the options Oct. 12-13 in New York, and expects to have a decision made for a bout in the first quarter of 2016 -- Pacquiao’s return bout from his May 2 loss by unanimous decision to Floyd Mayweather Jr.

The fight was the richest in boxing history -- a Pacquiao source told The Times the boxer earned $170 million -- but it was scarred by limited activity and Pacquiao’s post-fight revelation that he suffered a shoulder injury in training in the month before the bout.

As for Postol (28-0, 12 KOs), he could pursue a title unification at 140 pounds with Crawford or possibly act on being called out during the weekend by mandatory challenger Amir Imam (18-0, 15 KOs).

Arum said the 5-foot-11 Postol is a candidate to fight multiple top opponents at either 140 or 147 pounds.

Gomez said despite Saturday night’s disappointment, Golden Boy is committed to its strategy of putting its fighters in “the best fights. ... This is what happens when the best fight the best.”

On Oct. 17, Golden Boy fighter and International Boxing Federation middleweight champion David Lemieux will fight unbeaten World Boxing Assn. champion Gennady Golovkin at Madison Square Garden.

Twitter: @lancepugmire

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