Manny Pacquiao put on a show for the home fans in Kuala Lumpur during his fight against Lucas Matthysse on Saturday night, recording three knockdowns in just seven rounds of action.
Matthysse may have held the welterweight title belt heading into the match, but the 39-year-old came out of retirement to snatch it from him. And he showed a completely different fighting style than we’re used to from his days being coached by Freddie Roach — he was far more aggressive, and landed 44 percent of his power punches, according to ESPN, which shared the stat during its broadcast of SportsCenter on Saturday night.
79% of Pacquiao's landed punches were to the head of Matthysse. 43 of those 75 landed head punches were with Pacquiao's left hand, including the final uppercut to put Matthysse down in the 7th round. pic.twitter.com/mOrBfS89uM
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) July 15, 2018
Pacquiao’s knockdown in the fifth round played a big role in the win, and it was quite odd. Manny landed a number of punches, and Matthysse, at one point, randomly just decided to take a knee — which isn’t something you normally see in the sport.
BOOM! @mannypacquiao gets his first KO win in 9 years, uppercut dropped Lucas Matthysse. Pacquiao is now the new WBA welterweight champion #PacquiaoMatthysse pic.twitter.com/CkZGHFuFdG
— Jamie Pandaram (@JamiePandaram) July 15, 2018
It was almost as if Matthysse laid down like a wounded duck and allowed Pacquiao to walk all over him. The effort and passion just was not there from the former champion. For Manny, though, it was quite the opposite, and he earned the win (and the belt).
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