The "Machine" will have the biggest chance of his career when he defends his world championship belt against the legendary Filipino fighter. The fight will start around midnight in Argentina.
The Argentine boxer Lucas Matthysse will experience one of the most important evenings of his career in the Axiata Arena in Kuala Lumpur when he defends his World Boxing Association welterweight world title against the legendary Filipino fighter Manny Pacquiao.
Malaysia will host one of the most important boxing events on the agenda after the cancellation of the fight between Gennady Golovkin and Saul "Canelo" Alvarez, which was rescheduled for September this year. The stadium has a capacity for 16 thousand people that will vibrate with an event that will take place around midnight in Argentina (Sunday morning in the Asian country).
The magnitude of the fight is such that it will be held at this atypical time so that the clash can be seen in prime time on U.S. television. In Argentina, it will be televised through premium channel TNT SportsThe same signal broadcasts the local Superliga soccer matches.
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The Argentinean, from 35 years, became WBA world champion of the category a few months ago after a spectacular eighth round knockout victory over Thai Tewa Kiram.
Shortly before that, he had fought his first fight at this higher weight with another win before the limit against American Emmanuel Taylor after spending almost two years out of action following the loss to Viktor Postol by knockout, the only one of his career.
His record is impressive and fuels his reputation as a knockout: 39 wins -36 of them before the limit- and 4 defeats.
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He will face an absolute celebrity of the last two decades of boxing. The Filipino is about to turn 40 years and will face the 69th bout of his successful career. His statistics show 59 won (38 knockouts), 7 losses y 2 tied.
In the middle of last year, he made his last appearance against Australian Jeff Horn in a packed stadium in the city of Brisbane. Despite the loss on the scorecards, Pacquiao proved his validity in the ring.
His list of rivals includes the likes of Floyd MayweatherJuan Manuel MarquezAntonio MargaritoMiguel CottoOscar De La Hoya and Ricky Hattonamong others.
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Matthysse will flirt with the opportunity to go down in national boxing history and thus leave in the past the defeats against Zab Judah (2010), Devon Alexander (2011) and Danny Garcia (2013) that prevented him from making the leap in quality in his career.
"He's a great champion, but has not yet faced "La Máquina".. If he decides to retire after I beat him, that's his decision. I'm here to defend my title," said the Trelew native about the Asian who holds the impressive record of having won world titles in eight different weight classes.
Location: Axiata Arena (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)
DateSaturday, July 14
Schedulenot before 11:00 p.m. (Argentina time)
Television: TNT Sports (Argentina) / Space (Latin America) / ESPN (United States)
Belt in disputeWelterweight World Title of the World Boxing Association (WBA)
