A year after his last professional fight, Manny Pacquiao proved that making the welterweight limit is still not a problem for him as he weighed in a full pound below the limit at 146 pounds at the official weigh-in held at the Malaysia International Trade and Exhibition Centre in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Saturday morning.
Pacquiao’s opponent, WBA welterweight champion Lucas Matthysse, weighed in at 146.7 pounds.
Pacquiao and Matthysse weighed in in front of a packed crowd, mostly composed of Filipinos working in Malaysia and Singapore.
“It looks like sir Manny’s conditioning is good,” said IBF super flyweight champion Jerwin Ancajas who was present at the event. “It does not look like he has not fought in a year because of his physique.”
“I think it will be a really good matchup between the two because their styles are perfect for each other but the key will be the foot speed of sir Manny. Matthysse has a lot of punching power but I don’t think he’s fast enough on his feet to outmaneuver sir Manny.”
In the undercard, Jhack Tepora of the Philippines weighed in at 125.4 pounds while his opponent Edivaldo Ortega was just a shade heavier at 125.6 pounds. The two will battle for the interim WBA featherweight title.
Aside from the world title fights involving the two Filipinos, there will be two more world championships in the Fight of Champions fight card.
Lu Bin (106.7 pounds) of China takes on Carlos Canizales of Venezuela (106.4 pounds) for his WBA world light flyweight title while two-time world champion Moruthi Mthlane (111.5 pounds) of South Africa battles Muhammad Waseem (111.3 pounds) of Pakistan.
Fight of Champions will be held at the Axiata Arena with the gates opening at 6 in the morning. The fight card will be opened by Juan Miguel Elorde (122.9 pounds) going up against Thailand’s Ratchanon Sawangsoda (122.3 pounds) in a six-round match in the super bantamweight division.
The Pacquiao-Matthysse card will be shown on ESPN5 in the Philippines on Sunday beginning 10 a.m.