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Friday, April 26, 2024

Pacquiao turns back hands of time

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Manny Pacquiao took everyone down memory lane in Kuala Lumpur.

Manny Pacquiao sends Lucas Matthysse to the floor in the third round. Sonny Espiritu

The eight-division world champion reminded everyone that he's still got juice left in the tank after delivering his famed form reminiscent of his peak nearly a decade ago. 

The fighting senator scored a TKO win over Lucas Matthysse with 2:43 in the 7th round, to snatch the Argentine's World Boxing Association welterweight title.

Matthysse suffered his second stoppage loss in three years after his 10th-round KO defeat in 2015 against  to Viktor Apostol.

Pacquiao, who now has a win-loss-draw record 60-7-2 with 39 KOs, dropped Matthysse (39-4-0) thrice en route to his first TKO win since stopping Miguel Cotto in the 12th round back in 2009. 

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Pacquiao won the world title at the Axiata Arena in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in front of a partisan crowd, which included Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte. 

Even if coming off a one-year layoff from the sport after his controversial loss in Brisbane to Jeff Horn, Pacquiao, 39, nabbed his secondary world welterweight title amid an overhaul in his training camp, which saw longtime head coach Freddie Roach leaving his corner after 16 years. 

Pacquiao, evidently quicker than his South American counterpart, started the fight strong, eventually scoring the first knockdown of the match in the third round with a slicing left uppercut.

Matthysse, 35, was then forced to fall to his knee after yet another Pacman barrage before the bell rung to signal the end of the fifth. 

By then, the damage took its toll as Pacquiao uncorked a stinging left uppercut straight to the chest of Mathysse which finally broke down "The Machine" with 20 seconds to go in the 7th, forcing Kenny Bayless to put a stop to the fight. 

CompuBox punch stats revealed Pacquiao landed nearly twice as more punches with 95 out of 344 thrown for a hit percentage of 28%, while Matthysse landed 57 punches from 246 thrown for 23%. 

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