More than a year after his last fight, Manny Pacquiao will return to the ring to face welterweight world champion Lucas Matthyse on July 14 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, as both fighters announced Monday night.
"Signed, sealed, and delivered: Proud to officially announce that WBA welterweight champion Lucas Matthysse will defend his title against Manny Pacquiao in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on the night of Saturday, July 14 (US time)," wrote De la Hoya, CEO of Golden Boy Promotions and promoter of Matthysse.
Pacquiao's adviser, Michael Koncz, told ESPN that the press conference to kick off the fight announcement is scheduled for April 18 in Manila, Philippines, Pacquiao's home country, and another one will take place on April 20 in Kuala Lumpur.
Pacquiao will prepare for the fight without his longtime trainer, Freddie Roach, a member of the International Boxing Hall of Fame who has overseen his camp or corner. Instead, Koncz said Pacquiao has replaced Roach with Buboy Fernández, a lifelong friend of the Filipino fighter who has been his assistant coach and has been with him for every fight.
"That is Manny's decision. Manny told me that Buboy will take care of the training in this fight," Koncz said. "What is important to Manny is that he has one voice to listen to in the corner that he trusts and I think that is Buboy for this fight."
Pacquiao had been with Roach since he arrived in the United States for his first fight in 2001. They reached glorious heights together and forged an apparently unbreakable bond. Roach has trained Pacquiao for his past 34 fights.
Asked why Pacquiao decided to make a change without notifying Roach, Koncz said: "There were some things that Manny had in his last fight, and some statements that Freddie made to the media and Manny wasn't very pleased with that."
Although Pacquiao's usual promoter, Top Rank, is not promoting the event, which will instead be handled by Pacquiao's MP Promotions company, Bob Arum's company will handle the distribution of the fight on television, likely on an ESPN platform to be determined in the United States, either on the ESPN network, the new ESPN+ streaming service or on pay-per-view. Because of the 12-hour time difference between Malaysia and the East Coast of the United States, the fight will take place the morning of Sunday, July 15 in Kuala Lumpur, in order to have maximum U.S. exposure, Koncz said.
That is the same setup that was used when Pacquiao lost his version of the welterweight world title in a highly controversial decision to Jeff Horn on July 2 in Horn's hometown of Brisbane, Australia.
"We are very happy and privileged to have ESPN be part of this fight because of the tremendous ratings we had for the fight in Australia," Koncz said.
In the first fight under the partnership between Top Rank and ESPN, the Pacquia-Horn telecast averaged more than 3 million viewers and the main event topped out at 4.4 million followers throughout the telecast on ESPN and ESPN Deportes.
Koncz declined to speak to issues involving the promotional situation between Pacquiao and Top Rank because there appeared to be an apparent fracture, but said they would work together for this fight, and hopefully, another one in the fall.
"We're working together on this fight," Koncz said. "They have done us well for a long time and we have done them well for a long time. So we are working with them on this fight. We have no argument with Top Rank. Fortunately, this fight with Matthysse is a big happening and if Manny comes out victorious, then we can look forward to a fight against (Vasiliy) Lomachenko, with Top Rank in the fall."
Pound-for-pound king Lomachenko (10-1, 8 KOs), the junior lightweight world champion, will move up in weight to face lightweight world champion Jorge Linares for his title on May 12 at Madison Square Garden in New York, a fight that will be carried by ESPN. Victories by Lomachenko and Pacquiao could potentially lead to a fight in the fall at a weight to be determined.
"(Arum) is invited (to the fight) and there is no problem," Pacquiao recently told reporters in the Philippines. "I think after my fight with Matthysse, we will talk about the possible fight between Pacquiao and Lomachenko in the future. That is a good fight because he is a champion and he will challenge me to become champion again. At the same time, I don't want people to say that (the Matthysse fight) is just a tune-up fight."
The numbers for this fight are set up for action given Matthysse's aggressive style. The 35-year-old Argentine (39-4, 36 KOs), who has big punching power, won the vacant welterweight title on Jan. 27 by eighth-round knockout of Tewa Kiram in Malaysia.
Arum told ESPN last month that a group of investors in Malaysia were interested in bringing a Pacquiao fight there and were willing to put up $15 million, with $5 million up front. Koncz declined to discuss the financial terms of the deal but said the fight was moving forward.
Pacquiao (59-7-2, 38 KOs), a 39-year-old senator in the Philippines, is the only boxer to have held world titles in eight weight classes and has decided to continue his career in the ring after initially announcing his retirement following the fight with Horn.
Koncz said the fight with Matthysse, originally discussed for June, will take place now when the Philippine senate is on break, allowing Pacquiao time to train and fight.
"We scheduled this fight when the senate is not in session and it won't interfere with Manny's training," Koncz said.