Punching power will hurt Pacquiao – Matthysse trainer

KUALA LUMPUR – Lucas Matthysse’s trainer has fired warning shots against Manny Pacquiao six days ahead of the biggest boxing event in this country since 1975.

Joel Diaz, a Mexican-American who has trained some good and great boxers, warned Pacquiao of the power behind Matthysse’s punch – left or right.

“I’ve trained a lot of fighters in the past. All I know about Lucas Matthysse is that he carries a devastating punch with both hands,” he said.

The WBA welterweight champion from Argentina has a record of 39-4 with 36 victories via stoppage, 23 of them inside three rounds.

Diaz also told sportscaster Dyan Castillejo here that in this camp, the sparring partners that he brought in couldn’t stand Matthysse’s power.

“At times, he had to pull back,” he said.

“He has so much power in his punches that he hits you with the left, he hits you with the right, he hurts you. If Lucas catches him with either punch he can hurt him, Diaz added.

Matthysse arrived here from Los Angeles last Thursday, and has pretty much settled in at the Le Meridian Kuala Lumpur.

Pacquiao was to fly in yesterday late afternoon, on board a chartered plane with 199 passengers.

Matthysse, 35, is defending the WBA crown for only the first time. He won the 147-pound title with an eight-round stoppage of Thailand’s Tewa Kiram last January.

On Sunday noon, at the 15,000-seat Axiata Arena here, he faces the toughest challenge in his career in Pacquiao, an eight-division champion.

It’s the first time Kuala Lumpur will witness a boxing event of this magnitude, 43 years after Muhammad Ali brought his act here to fight Joe Bugner at the Merdeka Stadium.

Pacquiao is pushing 40 and is no longer in his prime. But he’s determined to show the world that he still can win a title.

The Filipino challenger is 59-7-2 with 38 knockouts, but none since he stopped Miguel Cotto in the 12th round in 2009.