The former boxing champion has a tough task in front of him.
It’s been well documented that boxing legend Manny Pacquiao is slated to challenge Lucas Matthysse for the World Boxing Association welterweight title on July 15th, 2018 at the Axiata Arena in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Some thought that this fight would never happen due to Pacquiao taking some time off.
It’s already been announced that the fight between these two fighters will take place on July 15th, 2018 at the Axiata Arena in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Pacquiao is serving as the promoter of this fight and has addressed the rumors that this fight might be postponed due to the fact of concern and pride.
"We are shifting our training to higher gear now with less than two months before the fight," said Pacquiao (transcript courtesy of Boxing Scene). "That is malicious and untrue.”
"Ironically, I would like to thank these rumor-mongers for the extra publicity that they are contributing to make this fight such a huge success. I am turning this negative news into something good because no news is actually bad news," added Pacquiao.
Matthysse's Arano Box organization and Golden Boy Promotions have also addressed these reports.
"Given the wrong versions of the postponement of Pacquiao-Matthysse, such as the news that we retweeted, Arano Box clarifies that the fight has no problem and the date remains unchanged," said Matthysse's manager Mario Arano on Twitter.
Matthysse is coming off an eight round TKO of Tewa Kiram at The Forum in Los Angeles, which saw him win the ‘regular' version of the WBA welterweight title. Following the fight, Matthysse called out Pacquiao for a potential fight that would take place this year.
He is the only eight-division world champion in the history of boxing by winning eleven major world titles and being the first boxer to win the lineal championship in five different weight classes.
He is also first boxer in history to win major world titles in four of the original eight weight classes of boxing. Those classes include flyweight, featherweight, lightweight, and welterweight.
He has been a superstar of the sport for many years as he has generated approximately 19.2 million in pay-per-view buys and $1.2 billion in revenue from his 23 PPV bouts. He was the second highest paid athlete in the world as of 2015.
Away from boxing, he has a political career as well. In May 2010, Pacquiao was elected to the House of Representatives in the 15th Congress of the Philippines, representing the province of Sarangani.
He was re-elected in 2013 to the 16th Congress of the Philippines. Fast forward to June of 2016, Pacquiao was elected as a senator and will serve a six-year term until 2022.