KL card by the numbers
By Joaquin Henson
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 15 Jul 2018
KUALA LUMPUR----It?s been a year since Manny Pacquiao lost his WBO welterweight title to Jeff Horn under disputed circumstances in Brisbane and the ring icon has a chance to prove himself worthy of another reign when he faces defending WBA champion Lucas Matthysse at the Axiata Arena here this morning.
Here?s a rundown of the ?Fight of Champions? by the numbers.
4----world titles at stake in the blockbuster card. Aside from Matthysse?s defense against Pacquiao, there will be fights for the vacant WBA featherweight title between Jhack Tepora and Mexico?s Indio Ortega, the WBA lightflyweight crown between defending champion Carlos Canizales of Venezuela and China?s Lu Bin and the vacant IBF flyweight belt between South Africa?s Moruti Mthalane and Pakistan?s Muhammad Waseem.
11----fights in the card staged by MP Promotions with a total of 98 scheduled rounds.
7----Filipino fighters seeing action----Pacquiao, Tepora, Harmonito de la Torre (against China?s Yong Qiang Yang), Juan Miguel Elorde (against Thailand?s Ratchanon Sawang Soda), J. R. Magboo (against Australia?s George Kambosos), Jay-Ar Inson (against Australia?s Terry Tzouramanis) and Vincent Astrolabio (against Japan?s Yuuki Kobayashi).
$30 Million----the budget to stage the entire promotion, including purses of 22 fighters. Pacquiao will reportedly receive a $10 Million purse while Matthysse will settle for at least $2 Million,
4----knockdowns suffered by Matthysse in his ring career, two from John Molina and one each from Danny Garcia and Viktor Postol. Matthysse came back from two trips to the canvas to stop Molina, lost to Garcia on points and took the full count in losing to Postol.
8----knockdowns suffered by Pacquiao in his ring career, two from Juan Manuel Marquez and one each from Sugar Shane Mosley (a fluke later admitted by referee Kenny Bayless as his mistake), Marco Antonio Barrera (another fluke called by referee Laurence Cole), Nedal Hussein, Serikzhan Yeshmagambetov, Medgoen 3-K Battery and Rustico Torrecampo.
36----knockouts scored by Matthysse in 39 wins for a 92 percent KO rate. Pacquiao has 38 KOs in 59 wins for a 64 percent rate.
$1.2 Billion----pay-per-view revenues generated by 23 Pacquiao fights from 19.2 million buys. The fight against Matthysse, however, will not be shown on pay-per-view in the US. Top Rank has made it available on the ESPN network and ESPN+.
19----Pacquiao?s age when he won his first world title from WBC flyweight champion Chatchai Sasakul via an eighth round knockout in Thailand in 1998. Matthysse was 35 when he won his first and only world title last January.
8----undefeated fighters in the Kuala Lumpur card----Tepora (21-0, 16 KOs), Lu Bin (1-0, 1 KO), Canizales (20-0-1,16 KOs), Waseem (8-0, 6 KOs), Theena Thayalan (5-0, 2 KOs), Ailman Abu Baker (7-0, 3 KOs), Yong Qiang Yang (10-0, 7 KOs) and Kambosos (14-0, 8 KOs).
13----countries represented by fighters, the Philippines, Argentina, Mexico, China, Venezuela, Pakistan, South Africa, Malaysia, Australia, Japan, Thailand, India and Indonesia, to make the promotion a truly international event.
$5,000----the highest-priced ticket. There are seven different ticket prices from $125 to $250 to $350 to $500 to $1,000 to $2,000 to $5,000.
43----years since Malaysia held a boxing spectacle in 1975 when Muhammad Ali outpointed Joe Bugner to retain the world heavyweight crown at the Merdeka Stadium.
68----fights that Pacquiao has logged since turning pro in 1995 compared to 44 fights where Matthysse has seen action since making his pro debut in 2004.
10----men will sing the National Anthem before the Pacquiao-Matthysse fight. Nine are Christian pastors from General Santos City while the lead vocalist is ?Pilipinas Got Talent? second season grand winner Marcelito Pomoy who?s acclaimed for his ability to do tenor or soprano and sing like a male or a female.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Joaquin Henson.
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