With South East Asia in the midst of monsoon season Manny Pacquiao’s coach Buboy Fernandez has issued a severe weather warning for the region.
“You wait for the return of the storm from the Pacific,” Fernandez told Rappler. “If Superstorm Maria did not enter the Philippines, this one will.”
Fernandez was of course referring to the whirling dervish that is Manny Pacquiao and the superstorm he expect his charge to unleash on WBA “regular” welterweight champion Lucas “The Machine” Matthysse 39-4 (36) when the two meet at Axiata Arena in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia this Sunday.
The 35-year-old Argentine champion has riled Pacquiao’s new trainer and lifelong friend with his boasts that he will knockout the eight-division, 11-time world champion.
“We will see. He shouldn’t be too cocky, because he’ll see a different Manny Pacquiao. More monster,” promised Fernandez.
Fernandez, who took over coaching duties from Freddie Roach after Pacquiao’s loss to unheralded Australian Jeff Horn last July, says that Pacquiao hit peak form last week weighing 145-pounds after eating breakfast on Tuesday morning.
Pacquiao is expected to scale 146-pounds at the official weigh-in on Saturday.
Fernandez revealed their game plan was to counter Matthysse, who won the WBA title with an eighth round knockout of Thailand’s Tewa Kiram 38-1 (28) in January.
“I want him (Matthysse) to initiate action,” said Fernandez. “Then we’ll counter.”
The Matthysse fight will be the first time the 39-year-old Pacquiao has stepped into the ring since losing his WBO welterweight title to Jeff Horn in front of 52,000 fans at Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium in Australia last July.
Matthysse won the WBA “regular” title in January when he stopped Thailand’s Tewa Kiram 38-1 (28) in eight rounds at the Forum in Inglewood, California.
The full WBA champion is undefeated American Keith “One Time” Thurman 28-0 (22). The 29-year-old hasn’t fought since he outpointed Danny Garcia 34-1 (20) at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York in March 2017 and remains sidelined from injuries.
