Lucas Matthysse arrived in Kuala Lumpur on Friday with the reality of his opponent sinking in.
The 35-year-old slugger from Argentina, gearing up for the biggest fight of his career on July 15 at Axiata Arena, said Pacquiao can’t be compared to anyone he has fought before.
“I want to defeat a legendary fighter like Manny,” Matthysse told fightnews.com. “It’s not (Zab) Judah, (Devon) Alexander, (Victor) Postol or (Danny) Garcia.”
Matthysse believes those fighters, who have all beaten him, don’t hold a candle to Pacquiao’s stature.
Matthysse trainer Joel Diaz has customized a fight-plan for a southpaw like Pacquiao, who will be seeing action for the first time in a year.
Meanwhile, with just eight days left before the WBA welterweight championship fight, MP Promotions’ Arnold Vegafria was quoted as saying 70 percent of tickets have been sold.