Fight of Champions
DateJuly 15, 2018
VenueAxiata Arena, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Title(s) on the lineWBA (Regular) welterweight title
Tale of the tape
Boxer Manny Pacquiao Lucas Matthysse
Nickname Pac-Man La Máquina
("The Machine")
Hometown General Santos, Philippines Trelew, Argentina
Pre-fight record 59–7–2 (38 KO) 39–4–0–1 (36 KO)
Height 5 ft 5+1⁄2 in (166 cm) 5 ft 6 in (168 cm)
Weight 146 lb (66 kg) 146+3⁄4 lb (67 kg)
Style Southpaw Orthodox
Recognition 8-division world champion WBA (Regular) welterweight champion
Result
Pacquiao wins via 7th-round TKO[1]

Manny Pacquiao vs. Lucas Matthysse, billed as Fight of Champions, was a boxing match for the WBA (Regular) welterweight championship. The event took place on July 15, 2018 at the Axiata Arena in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.[2][3][4] Pacquiao won the fight by 7th-round TKO[5] and Matthysse announced his retirement shortly thereafter.[6]

Background

On January 16, 2018 it was first reported that Pacquiao would return to the ring on the undercard of Terence Crawford vs. Jeff Horn for the WBO welterweight championship on April 21. Bob Arum wanted the card to take place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and have the card take place on ESPN PPV.[7][8] Early rumours indicated he would fight 37 year old former WBO light welterweight champion Mike Alvarado (38–4, 26 KO).[9] On February 2, after winning the vacant WBA (Regular) welterweight title against Tewa Kiram, Lucas Matthysse (39–4–0–1, 36 KO) stated he was interested in fighting Pacquiao next.[10] Freddie Roach as well as Golden Boy Promotions' Eric Gomez liked the idea of the fight happening.[11] Arum was also open to fight taking place, but stated it wouldn't happen next as he was likely to match Pacquiao with Alvarado.[12] On March 1, Pacquiao withdrew from the Crawford-Horn card. According to Aquiles Zonio, Pacquiao's media relations officer, Pacquiao felt it was insult to have him in a non-main event role and felt he was the obvious ticket seller for the card, also believing he beat Horn in their fight in 2017.[13] In an interview Pacquiao told ABS-CBN television he would fight in Malaysia, where he has a group willing to put up the necessary funds, in May or June 2018.[14] It was said that Pacquiao's MP Promotions would promote the event with a confirmed date of June 24. Arum played down the talks and said the fight had not been finalized.[15] Pacquiao started training for the potential bout on March 12.[16] Although the fight wasn't officially announced, the date was pushed back to July 8. Pacquiao explained the reason the date had changed was because June 24 would have fallen 10 days after the Islamic month, Ramadan and more than 60% of Malaysia's population are Muslim.[17]

On April 2, 2018 the fight was officially confirmed for July 15 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.[18] Pacquiao would go into the fight without long-time trainer Freddie Roach and instead be trained by his life-long friend Buboy Fernandez, who had served as an assistant trainer in previous fights. It would mark the first time in 34 fights, since 2001 that Roach would not be in Pacquiao's corner. It was noted that Top Rank would deal with the television distribution of the fight in the United States (US) with the fight taking place on ESPN+, at the time, ESPN's new monthly subscription streaming service. Due to the time difference, the fight was scheduled on morning local time so that the broadcast of the event would take place during the primetime hours (on July 14) in the United States.[18][19][20] On April 13, it was officially rumored that Pacquiao had parted ways with Roach. However, on April 15, Pacquiao revealed via social media that he had not decided on who would train him for the bout against Matthysse.[21] On May 18, according to sources in Argentina, the fight was in jeopardy and likely to be postponed. However, Pacquiao denied the reports a day later and called the rumours "malicious and untrue."[22][23] By July 1, there were still doubts around the fight taking place, notably from Bob Arum. However, Pacquiao told Philboxing.com the preparations were in the final stages and the funds would be released to Golden Boy in the coming days.[24] On July 2, Golden Boy and Matthysse confirmed receipt of funds and proposed to fly out to Malaysia the next day.[25]

Fight details

Pacquiao scored his first knockout in over 8 years by stopping Matthysse in round 7 to win the WBA (Regular) welterweight title. Pacquiao dropped Matthysse a total of 3 times before the fight was stopped. The knockdowns occurred in rounds 3, 5 and 7. Matthysse took a knee in the 5th round and was decked by a left hook in the 7th, following a combination. Referee Kenny Bayless began the count, stopping the fight at 2 minutes and 43 seconds after Matthysse spat out his mouthpiece. At the time of the stoppage, all three judges had the bout 59–53 in favor of Pacquiao. Speaking about the game plan, Pacquiao said, "Matthysse has the power, so hands up all the time and do my best. I'm surprised because Matthysse is a very tough opponent and I knocked him down. I was focused and patient in the fight, and I worked hard in training. We did a good job in training. We were pushing hard." Matthysse had no excuses, stating he lost to "a great fighter and a great champion." At the post-fight press conference, Pacquiao confirmed he would continue boxing.[26][27] According to CompuBox, Pacquiao landed 95 of 344 punches thrown (28%), this included a 44% connect rate on his power punches. Matthysse landed 57 of his 246 thrown (23%), only landing in double figures in round 6.[28]

Fight card

Weight Class Weight vs. Method Round Time Notes
Welterweight 147 lbs. Philippines Manny Pacquiao def. Argentina Lucas Matthysse (c) TKO 7/12 2:43 Note 1
Featherweight 126 lbs. Philippines Jhack Tepora def. Mexico Edivaldo Ortega TKO 9/12 Note 2
Junior flyweight 108 lbs. Venezuela Carlos Cañizales (c) def. China Lü Bin TKO 12/12 2:59 Note 3
Flyweight 112 lbs. South Africa Moruti Mthalane def. Pakistan Muhammad Waseem UD 12/12 3:00 Note 4
Super bantamweight 122 lbs. Philippines Juan Miguel Elorde def. Thailand Ratchanon Sawangsoda TKO 3/6 2:58
Welterweight 147 lbs. Malaysia Theena Thayalan draw India Siddharth Varma Draw 4/4 3:00

^Note 1 For WBA (Regular) welterweight title
^Note 2 For interim WBA featherweight title
^Note 3 For WBA (Regular) junior flyweight title
^Note 4 For vacant IBF flyweight title

Broadcasting

Country Broadcaster
Free-to-air Cable/pay television PPV Stream
Australia Australia — Main Event —
Canada Canada[29] — TSN
 Chile[30] TVN —
Indonesia Indonesia[31] SCTV Nexmedia — Vidio
Latin America (exclude Brazil and Mexico)[32] Space TNT Sports —
Malaysia Malaysia TV1[33] Astro SuperSport — MyKlik
Astro GO
Middle East and North Africa MENA[34] — OSN Sports Box Office OSN Play
Mexico Mexico[35] Azteca 7 — Azteca En Vivo
New Zealand New Zealand — SKY Arena —
Philippines Philippines ABS-CBN* ABS-CBN S+A* Cignal PPV —
The 5 Network (ESPN 5/AksyonTV)* Hyper* Sky PPV
GMA Network* —
Sub-Saharan Africa[36] — SuperSport — DStv Now
Thailand Thailand[37] PPTV — PPTV
United Kingdom United Kingdom — BoxNation — TVPlayer
United States United States — ESPN+

* Delayed telecast

References

  1. ↑ "World champion again! Pacquiao staves off Father Time, downs Matthysse". ABS-CBN News.
  2. ↑ "Pacquiao predicts biggest Malaysia show since Ali - FOX Sports Asia". 14 April 2018.
  3. ↑ "Photos: Pacquiao, Matthysse - Go Face To Face in Malaysia".
  4. ↑ INQUIRER.net (3 April 2018). "'It's on:' Pacquiao, Matthysse set for July 15 clash in Malaysia".
  5. ↑ @ABSCBNNews (July 15, 2018). "KO! Manny Pacquiao wins via TKO in 7th rd! #PacquiaoMatthysse" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  6. ↑ "Lucas Matthysse Makes Decision To Retire From Boxing". BoxingScene.com. Retrieved 2018-08-03.
  7. ↑ "Manny Pacquiao Return Being Lined Up For Crawford-Horn Card". BoxingScene.com. Retrieved 2018-04-10.
  8. ↑ "Arum: Pacquiao, Crawford-Horn Double Would Be ESPN PPV". BoxingScene.com. Retrieved 2018-04-10.
  9. ↑ "Manny Pacquiao's Return is Set? Mike Alvarado Rumored as Foe". BoxingScene.com. Retrieved 2018-04-10.
  10. ↑ "Roach Embraces The Idea of Manny Pacquiao vs. Lucas Matthysse". BoxingScene.com. Retrieved 2018-04-10.
  11. ↑ "Pacquiao vs. Matthysse: Golden Boy Prez Eager To Make a Deal". BoxingScene.com. Retrieved 2018-04-10.
  12. ↑ "Arum: Pacquiao-Matthysse Can Happen Later, But Not in April". BoxingScene.com. Retrieved 2018-04-10.
  13. ↑ "Pacquiao Felt Insulted, Walks From Alvarado Bout on April 14". BoxingScene.com. Retrieved 2018-04-10.
  14. ↑ "Manny Pacquiao: I Will Fight in Malaysia in May or June". BoxingScene.com. Retrieved 2018-04-10.
  15. ↑ "Arum: Pacquiao Hasn't Finalized Matthysse Fight for June 24". BoxingScene.com. Retrieved 2018-04-10.
  16. ↑ "Pacquiao Starts Training For Potential Matthysse Showdown". BoxingScene.com. Retrieved 2018-04-10.
  17. ↑ "Pacquiao-Matthysse Reportedly Postponed From June 24 to July 8". BoxingScene.com. Retrieved 2018-04-10.
  18. 1 2 "Pacquiao to challenge Matthysse for title in July". ESPN.com. Retrieved 2018-04-10.
  19. ↑ "Manny Pacquiao vs. Lucas Matthysse a Done Deal For July 14". BoxingScene.com. Retrieved 2018-04-10.
  20. ↑ "Pacquiao May Use Buboy as Trainer For Matthysse, Says Koncz". BoxingScene.com. Retrieved 2018-04-10.
  21. ↑ "Manny Pacquiao parts ways with Freddie Roach ahead of Lucas Matthysse bout - The Ring". The Ring. 2018-04-13. Retrieved 2018-04-14.
  22. ↑ "Pacquiao vs. Matthysse Having Issues, To Be Postponed?". BoxingScene.com. Retrieved 2018-07-03.
  23. ↑ "Pacquiao Denies Reports of Issues With Matthysse Fight". BoxingScene.com. Retrieved 2018-07-03.
  24. ↑ "Pacquiao: Ignore What Arum Said, He's Old, My Fight Will Happen". BoxingScene.com. Retrieved 2018-07-03.
  25. ↑ "Matthysse Receives His Money, Heads To Malaysia on Tuesday". BoxingScene.com. Retrieved 2018-07-03.
  26. ↑ "Pacquiao Knocks Matthysse Out in Seventh For WBA Belt". BoxingScene.com. Retrieved 2018-07-17.
  27. ↑ "Pacquiao stops Matthysse for 1st KO since '09". ESPN.com. Retrieved 2018-07-17.
  28. ↑ "Manny Pacquiao vs. Lucas Matthysse - CompuBox Punch Stats". BoxingScene.com. Retrieved 2018-07-17.
  29. ↑ TSN (2018-07-13). "Programming Alert: Matthysse vs. Pacquiao will be available on http://TSN.ca and the TSN app to all TSN and TSN Direct subscribers on Saturday, beginning at 9pm ET/6pm PT". Twitter. Retrieved 2019-01-28. {{cite web}}: External link in |title= (help)
  30. ↑ "Pacquiao vs Matthysse: Hora y dónde ver la esperada pelea". En Cancha (in Spanish). 2018-07-14. Retrieved 2023-07-27.
  31. ↑ "Pertarungan Manny Pacquiao vs Lucas Matthysse - Fight of Champions". Vidio. Retrieved 2018-09-15.
  32. ↑ "La pelea Matthysse-Pacquiao podrá verse por las señales televisivas de TNT Sports y Space". Diario Democracia (in Spanish). http://www.diariodemocracia.com/contacto/. Retrieved 2018-10-19. {{cite news}}: External link in |others= (help)CS1 maint: others (link)
  33. ↑ "Perlawanan Pacquiao, Matthysse secara langsung di RTM". Retrieved 2018-09-15.
  34. ↑ OSN (2018-07-08). "Lasapin ang matinding Pacman Punch! Suportahan ang Pambansang Kamao Manny Pacquiao vs Matthysse Live sa July 15, 3am UAE/2am KSA on OSN Sports HD Box Office. Subscribe to OSN Pinoy to watch more of Pacquiao and exclusive Pinoy Sports #OSNPinoy #MannyPacquiao #PacquiaoMatthysse". Twitter (in Tagalog). Retrieved 2019-01-28.
  35. ↑ TV Azteca (2018-07-09). "¡El dragón busca despertar ante la máquina de nocauts! Manny Pacquiao vs Lucas Matthysse el próximo sábado a las 10:00pm por @AztecaSiete #HayTiro". Twitter (in Spanish). Retrieved 2019-01-28.
  36. ↑ SuperSport (2018-07-13). "Pacman v Matthysse might be the main course, but there's a terrific undercard appetiser featuring SA's Moruti Mthalane v Muhammad Waseem for the IBF flyweight championship. Action is live on SS5 from 2am Sunday, with a repeat on SS8 at 9am #SSBoxing". Retrieved 2019-01-14.
  37. ↑ sodsroi (2018-07-12). ""ปาเกียว"ลั่นถึงแชมป์ขออิงบอลโลก". ข่าวสด (in Thai). Retrieved 2019-07-20.
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