Subriel Matias and Gabriel Gollaz Valenzuela both made weight at Friday’s weigh-in for their IBF light welterweight title eliminator this Saturday, March 1st at the Coliseo Tomas Dones, in Fajardo, Puerto Rico. The event will be shown live on DAZN.
This is a must-win fight for the former IBF 140-lb champion Matias (21-2, 21 KOs) if he wants to get a chance to recapture his belt that he lost last year in a terrible performance against Liam Paro on June 15th in Manati, Puerto Rico. Matias couldn’t use his normal brawling style to get to Paro because his movement, and pushing off that he did.
Paro’s Blueprint
Valenzuela (30-3-1, 17 KOs) will surely follow Paro’s blueprint by moving and roughing up Matias whenever he gets close. He has no other options, though, because he’s not a big enough puncher to defeat Matias in a firefight. In comparison, he does have power, but not on the level of Subriel.
Official Weights
Gabriel Gollaz Valenzuela 139.8 vs. Subriel Matías 139.8
Alfredo Santiago 139.75 vs. Javier Fortuna 144
It’s hard to know how good Valenzuela, 30, is because he’s never beaten anyone notable during his nine-year pro career in Mexico. He lost to William Zepeda earlier in his career, and was also beaten by Montana Love. Valenzuela has won his last five fights since then, albeit against lower-level opposition.
The defeat against Love occurred three years ago in 2022. Getting beaten by that guy shows the level Valenzuela is operating at. Talent-wise, he’s more of a fringe contender rather than a fighter deserving of his #4 ranking with the IBF. That’s why it’s important that Matias win this fight and look good in doing so.
If Matias does win, he’ll have to be really good to defeat IBF champion Richardson Hitchins because he’ll have a big speed advantage over him. Hitchins can do everything that Paro did, but a lot cleaner. The slower Matias will have fits against Hitchins if he can corner him to land his shots.
Matias is one fight away from challenging for another 140-pound title — only Gollaz Valenzuela stands in his way 🏆 #MatiasValenzuela | SAT | 7 PM ET | @DAZNBoxing pic.twitter.com/QQGwiRAdez
— Salita Promotions (@SalitaProm) February 28, 2025
Last Updated on 02/28/2025
