On this day, July 15th, Manny Pacquiao faced Lucas Matthysse on July 15, 2018, for the WBA welterweight championship. The fight took place at the Axiata Arena in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Pacquiao won the bout by a seventh-round TKO, after knocking Matthysse down in the third, fifth, and seventh rounds. The left uppercut was a significant punch that led to the final knockdown, and referee Kenny Bayless decided to stop the fight without completing the count. Following the loss, Matthysse announced his retirement from professional boxing.
Prior to the fight, there were several developments and rumors surrounding Manny Pacquiao's fight against Lucas Matthysse. Initially, it was reported that Pacquiao would return to the ring on the undercard of Terence Crawford vs. Jeff Horn on April 21, but he withdrew from that card, expressing his dissatisfaction with being in a non-main event role.
Pacquiao then expressed his intention to fight in Malaysia, and there were talks of a potential fight on June 24. However, the fight was later confirmed for July 15 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It was notable that Pacquiao would be without his long-time trainer Freddie Roach for the first time in 34 fights, as he chose to be trained by his friend Buboy Fernandez instead.
The fight was scheduled to take place in the morning local time to accommodate the primetime hours in the United States, and the television distribution was handled by Top Rank on ESPN+. There were rumors of Pacquiao parting ways with Roach, but Pacquiao clarified that he had not yet decided on his trainer for the Matthysse fight.
As for the fight, it was completely one-sided.
In the fifth round, Matthysse took a knee after being hit, and in the seventh round, he was knocked down by a left hook following a combination from Pacquiao. Referee Kenny Bayless began the count and ultimately stopped the fight at 2 minutes and 43 seconds after Matthysse spat out his mouthpiece.
At the time of the stoppage, all three judges had the bout scored 59–53 in favor of Pacquiao.
According to CompuBox statistics, Pacquiao landed 95 of 344 punches thrown (28%), including a 44% connect rate on his power punches. Matthysse landed 57 of his 246 thrown (23%), only reaching double figures in punches landed in the sixth round.
