As promised, Pacquiao puts on a show

Philippines’ Manny Pacquiao (R) fights Argentina’s Lucas Matthysse during their world welterweight boxing championship bout at Axiata Arena in Kuala Lumpur on July 15, 2018. / AFP PHOTO / Mohd RASFAN

KUALA Lumpur—“This is what the fans are looking for,” said a triumphant Manny Pacquiao after his conquest of Lucas Matthysse on Sunday.

Like a gladiator before a blood-thirsty crowd, Pacquiao scored a knockout win that is expected to extend his career.

“I was not gone, I was just there,” said a smiling Pacquiao, with hardly a blemish on his face except for a bruise under his right eye.

Pacquiao gave the fans, used to seeing him scoring brutal victories, what they hoped for when he hammered the Argentine slugger with crushing left upper cuts, dropping him thrice en route to the seventh-round win.

It was his first knockout victory since he flattened Miguel Cotto in 2009. Pacquiao has since scored convincing wins but never came close to a KO victory, with which 39 of his 60 wins ended.

“It’s been a long time since [I knocked down an opponent thrice],” said Pacquiao, who floored Chris Algieri six times in 2014. In 2004, he also downed Juan Manuel Marquez thrice in a bout that surprisingly ended in split draw.

“You have to give yourself some rest, my training camp stopped me from pushing myself too much,” said Pacquiao, explaining the relaxed atmosphere at his camp led for the first time by bosom buddy Buboy Fernandez.

Against Matthysse—known to charge into his opponent before trying to punch his way out—Pacquiao said he already sensed the fear in the enemy as early as the first round.

“You see that in a fight, look at my opponent’s eyes. His reaction. The way he reacts,” said Pacquiao. “I know that when he felt my power, he began to be scared. He [knew he] can’t handle my power.”