DETROIT – Samantha Worthington wants to become the undisputed junior welterweight champion – and welcomes a fight with Katie Taylor, the last person to hold that crown.
Taylor remains the queen at 140lbs, owner of the IBF, WBA and WBO world titles and recognition as the Ring and lineal champion – even without the WBC title she vacated. The sanctioning body named Taylor its champion-in-recess; she is taking some time off from boxing following the conclusion of her trilogy with Amanda Serrano this past July.
In the meantime, fighters like Worthington are continuing to vie for a greater foothold in the division. They are positioning themselves for one of a few scenarios – either to be seen as the best opponent for Taylor if she returns, or as the heir apparent in case Taylor hangs up her gloves or opts for lucrative events instead of the next generation of challengers.
The 30-year-old Worthington, 12-0 (7 KOs), won the WBA’s interim junior welterweight belt this past July with a majority decision over Victoire Piteau at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit on the undercard of Claressa Shields vs Lani Daniels. Worthington is returning to that venue Sunday, taking on Edith Soledad Matthysse on the undercard of Shields’ rematch with Franchon Crews-Dezurn.
Soledad Matthysse is 20-16-1 (3 KOs) and is a former unified featherweight titleholder. She has not been stopped in any of her defeats, including a stretch of five consecutive losses from 2022-2024, against Alycia Baumgardner, Nina Meinke, Sarah Achieng, Elif Nur Turhan and Karen Elizabeth Carabajal.
“The first thing that I noticed is that she’s just really durable,” Worthington said in an interview with BoxingScene. “With experience comes that durability. You know what to expect because you’ve done it for so long. You’ve been in so many fights. You have so many rounds. So she definitely has that over me, just with that experience side of it. But I think that my technicality, my skill, just my strength overall is gonna overpower her.”
Soledad Matthysse is 45 years old and turned pro in 2007. She beat Ogleidis Suárez in 2013 for the WBA belt at 126lbs, outpointed Jelena Mrdjenovich in 2015 to add the WBC title and then lost both to Mrdjenovich in their rematch in 2016.
“I am really excited to share a ring with someone with her pedigree because you always glean something every time you step into the ring with someone else – but there’s so much to learn from her,” Worthington said.
Soledad Matthysse also represents a different type of challenge than Piteau.
“She’s totally different. Victoire Piteau, my last fight, she was a southpaw, she was a little taller, lankier, and the way that she fought, she bum-rushed,” Worthington said. “Edith, she does come forward, but she doesn’t lean and try to hold as much, from what I’ve seen. So I think that her style is tailor-made for me, who likes to do angles. I do like to be aggressive, but I can also counter. So I think that it’s just gonna play right into how I fight.”
Those who look at Soledad Matthysse’s age and record may be dismissive of her. Worthington is respectful of her opponent.
“If you look at the people that she’s faced in general – beaten, number one, but also just lost against, those are world champions, undisputed, some of them. She has a winning record, so that should negate all of the naysayers and the haters. But also the amount of fights that she’s had, that’s number two. And then number three, like I said, who she’s fought, who she shared the ring with. Like I said, you glean something from everyone that you step in the ring with, and she’s been in the ring with multiple world champions, multiple-time world champions. And so that in and of itself, that pretty much puts that to bed.”
Worthington wants to use her performance against Soledad Matthysse to show more of what she can do in the ring.
“It’s gonna show the full package, and it’s just gonna really illuminate who I am,” Worthington said. “I think that shows the world that I am a world champion. I am going to be undisputed. And I think that opens that opportunity for me, because it shows who I really am and who I was created to be, if that makes sense.”
Worthington’s team includes Mark Taffet, a former HBO executive who guided Claressa Shields for much of Shields’ pro career.
“That's been a really great gift for me. He’s already been laying the groundwork for what’s next for me,” Worthington said. “He just allows me to focus on what’s ahead, like what’s right in front of me, which is Sunday. And so I’m gonna get past Sunday, and then he’s already got some plans in place with the other sanctioning bodies. We’ll speak afterwards, and I’ve told him, ‘Let me get February 22 taken care of, and then we’ll start to look forward.’”
Of course, reporters will look forward even when fighters are concentrating solely on what’s ahead of them. The WBC belt is vacant again. Chantelle Cameron had been the WBC’s interim titleholder and then was upgraded when Katie Taylor vacated. But Cameron has since parted ways with her WBC belt as well, and is scheduled to move up to junior middleweight to fight Michaela Kotaskova for the vacant WBO title in April.
For Worthington, a fight with a big name would be great, but her primary goal is the world titles.
“I’ve never actually looked at one person and thought, ‘I’m gonna gun for her,’” Worthington said. “Katie would be an iconic fight because of her name. If she wants to fight in Ireland, I got my passport. Let’s go. Like, let’s do this, Katie. It’s another style that I think would allow both of us to shine. I think I have the better style, and I think that my aggression and the way that I cut angles and the way that I throw punches in bunches and my power would overpower her, for lack of a better word.
“That would be an iconic fight, but I just want the belts. So in my mind, she just has something that is mine. And so if she still has them, alright, Katie, let’s make that fight. But like I said, Mark knows the path forward. He knows the best way to get to the goal that we have. And so I’ll let him do his thing. Just tell me when and where, and I’ll be ready.”
David Greisman, who has covered boxing since 2004, is on Twitter @FightingWords2. David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” is available on Amazon.
