Kuala Lumpur: Philippine boxing legend Manny Pacquiao insisted on Friday that his advancing years were no barrier to success as he gears up for a showdown against world champion Lucas Matthysse.
Pacquiao, 39, will fight the Argentine — four years his junior — for the World Boxing Association welterweight belt on July 15 in Malaysia’s capital Kuala Lumpur.
The Filipino has won an unprecedented eight world titles in different weight classes but some have raised questions about his ability to box at the top of his game due to his age.
But at a joint press conference with Matthysse in Kuala Lumpur, he dismissed such concerns.
“It’s not about a number, it’s not about age, that doesn’t matter,” he said.
- Manny Pacquiao | Philippine boxing icon
“It depends how you discipline yourself in training, how you prepare.”
Pacquiao said that the fight against Matthysse would not be his last, as he wants the final bout of his career to take place in his homeland.
“Definitely this is not my last fight,” he said.
“I want my last fight to be in the Philippines, but I still have a couple more fights till I retire,”
Pacquiao, who returns to action for the first time since losing on points to Australian Jeff Horn in Brisbane last July, said he expected the July 15 bout at the Axiata Arena to be “a real boxing fight”.
“Matthysse’s style is very aggressive. He’ll want to come inside and fight toe-to-toe. You won’t see running or dancing in the ring,” said Pacquiao, who has a 59-7-2 record with four of those losses coming in his last nine fights.
Matthysse (39-4), who will be making his first title defence, said he expected a “big fight” but believed he had what it took to keep his WBA welterweight crown.
Matthysse — who took the vacant WBA welterweight title in January — has expressed confidence that he can beat Pacquiao, describing the Filipino as a diminished star.
At Friday’s press conference, he said he was a “pretty big puncher with both hands, so that gives me a lot of confidence”.
“I’m a pretty big puncher with both hands,” said the 35-year-old Matthysse, who beat Thailand’s Tewa Kiram with an eighth round knockout to claim the vacant title in January.
“But more importantly my conditioning ... gives me confidence to win this fight,” he said.
Pacquiao is currently a senator in the Philippine parliament and many in the country believe he will one day run for president, although the boxer has insisted he is happier in the ring than politics.
He conceded that it was “not easy” to juggle being a top-level boxer and politician.
The Kuala Lumpur bout will likely mark the first time in 15 years that Pacquiao will be fighting without his long-standing US trainer Freddie Roach, who expressed hurt last week after saying ties have been cut.
The boxer has suggested that role might go to his own friend and compatriot Buboy Fernandez, at least for the Matthysse bout.
