PACQUIAO-MATTHYSSE FEATS, FACTS AND FIGURES PART I
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Thu, 10 May 2018
Manny Pacquiao (59-7-2, 38 KOs) will fight the Argentine World Boxing Association welterweight champion Lucas Matthysse (39-4-0, 36 KOs), for a title showdown which is dubbed ?Fight of Champions,? that will happen at the Axiata Arena in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on July 14, US time (July 15 Philippine time).
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?We know Manny is the legend in the sports. He fought the best fighters all around, and the best fighters of his era. We are facing a tough title fight,? added Diaz, who was the trainer of former world champion Timothy Bradley in the latter?s two fights against Pacquiao.
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Lucas Matthysse?s trainer Joel Diaz said that Manny Pacquiao is still a dangerous opponent even without Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach. When Diaz was asked if the absence of Roach will affect Pacquiao?s overall fighting efficiency his answer is ?I don?t think so,? Diaz told The Manila Times.
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?Because Buboy (Fernandez) has been with Manny Pacquiao through his whole career so Buboy knows exactly what Manny Pacquiao needs to do in the ring. Buboy keeps the control of Manny Pacquiao and knows him so well,? Diaz added. ?I think Freddie Roach is a great guidance but I?m pretty sure at this point, Buboy Fernandez has learned a lot from Freddie Roach to guide Manny Pacquiao in this fight.?
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Diaz sad that Lucas Matthysse has been training for two weeks now in California and they have been focusing on strategy. "It is still a long way to go and I don?t like to train my fighters too long. Too long is too much. They are not young anymore and they?re on the peak of their career and age," added Diaz.
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Pacquiao is targeting his unprecedented 11th world title, the WBA "regular" welterweight championship against title holder Matthysse of Argentina. Pacquiao (59-7-2, 38 KOs) is out to wrest the belt from Matthysse (39-4, 34 KOs).
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After building enough stamina from his cardio workouts in the early phases of his preparations, Pacquiao was joined by his boyhood friends and present trainers Buboy Fernandez and Raides ?Nonoy? Neri. They had a rather slow start, with regular gym drills, doing some mitts workout and planning some strategies. Pacquiao hoped to make it faster in the middle of his training. He punched the heavy bags followed by his abs routine.
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?I am inspired as I am also excited to face the champion,? said Pacquiao of Matthysse who has a great knockout power having won 36 of his 39 wins by stoppages.
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Pacquiao is on Senate recess but will resume work on May 14 to June 1 when the Upper Legislative Chamber reconvenes. Then, his training escalates in the whole month of June until the fight day, July 15 in Kuala Lumpur. He promotes this biggest boxing event in Malaysia for the last 43 years since Muhammad Ali fought Joe Bugner in Kuala Lumpur.
Veteran trainer Ronnie Shields expects Pacquiao to wrest the belt from Matthysse in their upcoming title fight. "I like the fight, I think Manny Pacquiao has a lot to prove to himself as to whether he should continue to fight or not. Matthysse did not look to good to me in his last fight, he was looking like he was having a lot of problems and because of that, a lot of people are gonna pick Manny Pacquiao to win, although Pacquiao didn?t look so good in his last fight either," Shields told On The Ropes Boxing Radio.
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"I think because of the names and only because of the names this is a very interesting fight. It?s for an interim world title, which doesn?t really mean a whole lot. But to people in Malaysia it means a whole lot, that they are fighting for the interim world championship. I really like Pacquiao in the fight because I just think he?s smarter and the guy is always in shape. I think because Matthysse had so many problems with the last guy he fought you have to favor Manny Pacquiao," said Shields.
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The fighting senator from Sarangani has lost 4 of his last 9 fights. It began when he was defeated by Timothy Bradley via split decision and by Juan Manuel Marquez via knockout in 2012. Then Pacquiao suffered unanimous decision losses to Floyd Mayweather Jr. in 2016 and to Jeff Horn last year. All of Pacquiao's 5 wins were via unanimous decision and his last stoppage victory was a technical knockout win over Miguel Cotto in 2009.
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"My time is not done yet. [I want] to prove this coming July 15 that Manny Pacquiao is not done in boxing," said Pacquiao. "I will do my best to win. If I have a chance to finish it right away, I will finish it."
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"Hanging gloves? I don't know yet. But in my life, I never think negative, I always think positive. That makes me focused. But whatever happens, of course, I will accept it. That's a part of sports but I think we will win," Pacquiao said.
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Pacquiao last fought on July 1 last year on ESPN losing a very controversial decision to Jeff Horn at the Suncorp Stadium in Australia. It was the first of Top Rank's exclusive deal with ESPN. The bout was considered the highest rated boxing card of the whole year and the highest rated fight on cable television since 2006.
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Bob Arum told BoxingScene.com that Pacquiao wants the fight to be shown on pay-per-view. Although Top Rank is not promoting this event but they are distributing this fight to America through their deal with ESPN.
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"What we're going to do on July 14th is we have a linear ESPN show that's going to precede the pay-per-view and then we're going to switch to Malaysia and do two championship fights and Pacquiao on pay-per-view," Arum said. "The linear ESPN card will be a full ESPN show but it will be reminding the viewers to buy the pay-per-view."
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Maloney L. Samaco.
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