Pacquiao: Patience led to Matthysse KO
KUALA LUMPUR – Newly minted WBA welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao showed flashes of his old, deadly form in a seventh-round technical knockout win over Lucas Matthysse at the Axiata Arena here Sunday.
Pacquiao, who sent Matthysse to the canvas three times, said he was more careful and extra-patient this time.
And it paid off, as the Filipino icon finally ended a long knockout slump. The last time he was able to stop an opponent was in 2009, against Miguel Cotto in Las Vegas.
It took Pacquiao 14 fights to again post a knockout, and it came in dominant fashion against Matthysse, the hard-punching Argentinean who was reduced to a mediocre opponent contented with throwing jabs and occasional counters.
“Our strategy is to be patient and take time. Don't rush. Don't be careless like what we did before,” Pacquiao told reporters at the post-fight press conference.
Pacquiao first decked Matthysse with a left uppercut in the third round, but did not immediately go in for the kill.
“Matthysse, he had power. What we did is just take time,” he added.
A second knockdown came near the end of the fifth canto, when Matthysse took a knee a few seconds after getting tagged with a jab and a right hook by Pacquiao. Luckily for the Argentinean, the bell sounded before Pacquiao could finish him off.
Matthysse would survive for one more round before meeting his end in the seventh after eating a huge uppercut from Pacquiao, which again sent Matthysse down and for good.
The mixture of patience and him picking his shots well bore fruit for Pacquiao, who, at 39 years old, notched his 60th win in front of a packed crowd that included President Duterte and Malaysian Prime Minister Mohamad.
“(Trainer) Buboy (Fernandez) told me that you got it (the fight), but do not be careless,” he continued.
Patience, indeed, was Pacquiao’s biggest virtue on Sunday.
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