By Vivem Soriano
Eagle News Service
Filipino ring icon Manny Pacquiao scored the 60th win of his 23-year career with a sensational 7th round TKO victory over Argentina’s Lucas Matthysse to capture the WBA regular welterweight belt at the Axiata Arena in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
This is Pacquiao’s first stoppage win since his now famous 2009 12th round TKO victory over Puerto Rican boxer Miguel Cotto.
The Filipino slugger dominated Matthysse from the opening bell, with the 39-year-old boxer showing almost no hints of decline despite his age by zapping the Argentinian champion with crisp punches and combinations.
And all of those were just too much for the overmatched Matthysse. Pacquiao scored the first of his three knockdowns in the 3rd round via a vicious left uppercut that the Argentine boxer just didn’t see coming.
The second knockdown was an odd and strange one, with Matthysse suddenly taking a knee after a brief attempt by Pacquiao to connect with jabs just before the end of the 5th round.
The end of the bout came in the 7th round after Pacquiao tagged Matthysse with another powerful left uppercut that sent the Argentine down for the final time. Referee Kenny Bayless stopped his count and halted the bout right away after Matthysse took his mouthpiece off.
The Compubox numbers clearly showed how dominant Pacquiao was in the bout.
Pacquiao landed 44% of his power punches, 79 out of 181 compared to Matthysse’s 27% rating of just 36 connecting out of 131 power punches thrown.
The spectacular stoppage victory sent the almost entirely pro-Pacquiao crowd into a delirious frenzy. The crowd included Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, whom Pacquiao thanked and acknowledged during his post-fight interview inside the ring.
This is the Pinoy boxer’s first bout in more than a year after losing his WBO welterweight crown in a highly controversial unanimous decision loss against Australian Jeff Horn in July 2017.
This is also the first bout in 17 years since Pacquiao’s victory over Lehlo Ledwaba in 2001 that longtime trainer Freddie Roach will not be in his corner. The Filipino ring icon opted for lifelong friend Buboy Fernandez to lead his training for this bout.
Pacquiao also moved his training camp to General Santos City in the Southern Philippines instead of the usual Wild Card Gym of his former trainer Freddie Roach in Los Angeles, California.
Pacquiao’s win sets the stage for a number of potential mega showdowns with the other belt holders in the stacked boxing welterweight division.
WBO welterweight champ Terrence Crawford, IBF champ Errol Spence Jr. and WBA super champion Keith Thurman are now all possible and potential future opponents by Pacquiao.
Pacquiao’s record now improves to 60 wins with 39 KOs, 7 losses and 2 draws.
Matthysse suffers the 5th losses of his career to go to 39-5-1 NC (no contest) with 36 wins by KO.
