Manny Pacquiao is expected to easily hurdle today’s weigh-in ahead of WBA champion Lucas Matthysse at the Malaysia International Trade and Exhibition Center (MITEC) Saturday (July 14) morning in Kuala Lumpur.
Weigh-in starts at 8AM and will be free to the public. “Fight of Champions,” the biggest boxing event ever to be shown in Malaysia in the last four decades, will have 10 more additional bouts in the undercard three of which are for world titles.
Pacquiao has been one of the smallest welterweight champions in history and has been tipping the scales three or four pounds lighter than the 147-pound (66.68 Kg.) limit since he first fought in the division 10 years ago.
Matthysse, the sledgehammer-fisted Argentine who has won 36 of his 39 victories by knockout (against 4 losses), will be fighting only for the third time as a welterweight after winning the WBA crown early this year.
For the 10th time, Kenny Bayless will be the referee starring Pacquiao. Bayless, 68, first officiated the second meeting between the Filipino and the legendary Erik Morales in 2006.
Derek Milham of Queensland, Australia will join 74-year-old Stanley Christodoulou of Johannesburg, South Africa and Glenn Feldman of Connecticut, USA in scoring the match should it last the full 12 rounds.
The “Golden Boy,” himself, Oscar Dela Hoya, will be on hand for the weigh-in of Matthysse, a boxer promoted by Golden Boy Promotions.
Unbeaten Jhack Tepora of Cebu City, Philippines, (21-0, 16 KOs) will vie for the vacant World Boxing Association featherweight title against Edivaldo “Indio” Ortega (26-1-1, 12 KOs) of Tijuana, Mexico in the main supporting bout.
Carlos “CCC” Canizales of Venezuela (20-0-1, 16 KOs) will try to prevent Lu Bin of China from becoming only the first boxer in history to win a world title on his second bout. They will fight for Canizales’ WBA light flyweight belt.
Veteran Moruti Mthalane of South Africa and Muhammad Waseem of Pakistan will lock horns for the vacant International Boxing Federation (IBF) flyweight title–the last of the four exciting world championships offered by MP Promotions headed by Pacquiao, himself.
The card will open with Thailand’s Ratchanon Sawangsoda (12-2, 12 KOs) facing Juan Miguel “The Boss” Elorde, grandson of the great Filipino “Flash” Elorde in a six-round junior featherweight match.
Malaysia’s local hero Theena Thayalan (5-0, 2 KOs) will battle Siddarth Ravindra Varma of India (4-1, 1 KO) in the second bout.
Right after the Pacquiao Vs Matthysse battle, five more exciting matches spice up the star-studded event that is expected to be beamed to 200 territories throughout the world including Japan’s Yuuki Kobayashi (17-1, 8 KOs) battling flyweight Vincent Astrolabio of the Philippines (10-1, 7 KOs) over 8 rounds.
Other matches include Australia’s shining lightweight George Kambosos Jr. (14-0, 8 KOs) against Jay Ar Magboo, (17-1, 8 KOs); Eleftherios Tzouramanis (19-3-3, 3 KOs) fighting Jayar Inson of the Philippines (15-1, 10 KOs); Youngquiang Yang (10-0, 7 KOs) of China facing Harmonito Dela Torre (19-1, 12 KOs); and Abdi of Indonesia (5-2, 2 KOs) facing Aiman Abu Bakar of Malaysia (7-0, 3 KOs).
(Malaysia International Trade and Exhibition Center (MITEC) is located at 8 Jalan Dutamas 2, Kompleks Kerajaan.)