Pacquiao vs. Matthysse results: Winners, highlights, and analysis from Saturday night

Manny Pacquiao scored his first knockout since 2009 in the main event of an exclusive-to-ESPN+ boxing card on Saturday, dropping Lucas Matthysse in the seventh round. In doing so, Pacquiao won the WBA world welterweight title off of Matthysse at 39 years of age.

Pacquiao came out aggressive and looking to push the pace, and that’s what he did to start. He caught Matthysse with a hard left uppercut that dropped him in the third round, but he didn’t swarm for the finish, knowing the danger of Matthysse’s power.

Two rounds later, Pacquiao earned his second knockdown when a short right hook landed square on the temple and Matthysse took a knee. Another two rounds later, and Pacquiao scored another big left uppercut that put Matthysse down for the third and final time, giving Pacquiao the KO.

Coming into the bout, Pacquiao had lost to Jeff Horn in his last fight, losing the WBO welterweight belt. That was a very controversial decision, while prior to that Pacquiao scored wins over Jessie Vargas and Timothy Bradley, just after his loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. Matthysse came in off a pair of wins over Tewa Kiram and Emmanuel Taylor, with a loss to Viktor Postol prior to that.

The co-feature of the card saw Jhack Tepora and Edivaldo Oretga facing off for the interim WBA featherweight title. Tepora started off very strong, landing some heavy hooks on Ortega, who couldn’t handle his pressure in the first round. But things took a turn from there, with Ortega getting more aggressive and keeping himself within the pocket. Tepora landed his best shots from outside.

In Round 9, after multiple lackluster rounds for Tepora, he caught Ortega with a hard right hand, and from there, realized he had the finish, and went for it. He started lighting Ortega up against the ropes, and the referee stopped it, giving him a TKO victory and the belt.

In the opening bout of the undercard, Carlos Canizales defended his WBA world light flyweight title against Lu Bin, a 1-0 fighter who was trying to make history by becoming the first boxer to win a major world title in just two career fights. But the bout didn’t go as planned.

He landed some good shots, and potentially took a round or two, but the fight was largely dominated by Canizales, who was on his way to a sure decision victory before he scored his second knockdown of the fight with just five seconds remaining in the final round. The referee waved off the fight as Bin had enough.

Below, you can see the round-by-round analysis from the three fights on the ESPN+ card, as well as a full list of results from Saturday.

Round 1: Matthysse takes the center of the ring. Pacquiao flicks the jab out there, but it doesn’t land, nor does a lunging hook. One-two straight combo from Matthysse lands, but not very hard. Matthysse is focused on his defense early on here. He lands a left hand to the body. Pacquiao fires off a hard left hand that is blocked. Hard right to the chest from Matthysse. A close round comes to an end!

Round 2: Overhand right from Matthysse, but Pacquiao blocks it. Jab from Mattysse connects. Straight right from Pacquiao lands hard, and the follow-up from Matthysse just grazes. Jab to the body from Pacquiao. Hard, short right hand connects flush on the cheek as Matthysse comes in low. Another short hook from Pacquiao. Right uppercut from Matthysse lands, but Pacquiao walks through it. Pacquiao lands some nice jabs as the round ends.

Round 3: Pacquiao blocks a stiff right straight from Matthysse. Pacquiao ducks under an overhand, then comes forward with a hard, hard left uppercut that drops Matthysse here in the third round! He is back up and fighting, but backing up. This is a dangerous spot for Pacquiao, given Matthysse’s punching power, especially while cornered. Pacquiao slows it down but hits matthysse with a short counter jab, and he continues to use the jab to get within range. Hard, short left hook lands on Pacquiao’s cheek, but he eats it.

Round 4: Pacquiao takes the center of the ring right away. Matthysse misses a winging body shot. Left jab from Matthysse sneaks through the guard. Pacquiao with a strong jab-jab-hook combo, and Matthysse needs to move his head some more or he’s going down sooner rather than later. Overhand right from Matthysse clips Pacquiao, who responds with a hard straight left. About half a minute later, another hard straight left from Pacquiao. It was a good round for Matthysse coming off the knockdown, but it was still probably Pacquiao’s round.Round 5: Lunging right straight, followed by two more backs Matthysse against the ropes, where he eats a left hand from nowhere by Pacquiao. Left hook from Matthysse lands. Pacquiao lands a good double-jab combo, then a hook to the body. Straight left over the top from Matthysse catches Pacquiao off balance, but he responds with a strong body shot. Hard counter right from Pacquiao and Matthysse, who seems fine at first, takes a knee. It must have hit him much harder than it looked, though it came on the heels of Matthysse putting together a couple decent combos. It’s another knockdown for Pacquiao! Upon replay, Pacquiao clearly hit him right in the temple.

Round 6: Short break to start the round as Pacquiao is hit with a low blow. After they start back up, it’s more of the same from Pacquiao: jab combos followed by a brutal left uppercut that again hurts Matthysse. Matthysse tries to put together a hook combo from outside and Pacquiao just dances away, then lands a heavy body combo. Good hook to the body from Matthysse, who is warned for the second time to stop leading with his head. Short body combo from Pacquiao. Hard uppercut from Pacquiao again. Right hook, then another uppercut from Pacquiao. Matthysse just has nothing for him right now!

Round 7: Hard straight left from Pacquiao to start. He slips two jabs from Matthysse, who seems gunshy with his right hand. Lightning-fast four-punch combo from Pacquiao, who is backing up Matthysse. Oh it’s the left uppercut again! And Matthysse is down! Pacquiao dropped him with the same punch that he’s been landing all fight!

Round 1: Hard right from Tepora to start, but Ortega is fine. After they exchange for about a minute, Tepora connects with a huge body shot that backs up Ortega and has him on the ropes. Tepora lands another one to the body, but also eats a right hook from Ortega, and a short uppercut. Overhand left from Tepora lands. Ortega connects with a short right near the end of the round.

Round 2: Ortega gets Tepora’s back against the ropes and he peppers him with body shots. Tepora is a bit slower here in the second. He gets backed up and eats hard body shots again. The round ends with Tepora again backed up. Easily Ortega’s round.

Round 3: Right jab from Tepora lands, and then a right hook over the top. They tie up, and are separated. Hard counter body shot from Tepora connects. They’re both working from outside now, and Ortega lands a hard hook to the face, but Tepora isn’t even stunned by it, at least not visibly. Right jab from Ortega lands, and then another one that snaps Tepora’s head back. A very active third round comes to an end.

Round 4: Tepora is getting the jab in now and it’s landing, keeping Ortega at a distance. He’s been losing the close exchanges, so it makes sense. He needs to keep Ortega outside. Or maybe not, as Tepora catches Ortega with a hard right hand when he comes in. Hard round to score, it could be even at two rounds apiece.

Round 5: Orega with a hard body shot, but he misses the two follow-up hooks as Tepora circles away. Hard left overhad from Tepora lands, and Ortega backs up. Hard body shot from Ortega as Tepora misses a heavy uppercut.

Round 6: Hard right counter from Tepora lands, and they tie up. Overhand left from Tepora connects. Short left uppercut from Tepora, and Ortega ties up. Not much for the rest of the round. It’s probably Tepora’s round.

Round 7: Ortega is coming forward hard in the round, while Tepora s keeping himself backing up. Good left straight from Ortega near the end of the round. Tepora didn’t do much in the round, and Ortega is likely still up on the scorecards.

Round 8: Right straight from Tepora lands, but he eats a much harder right hand from ORtega. Missed uppercut from Tepora. Triple jab combo from Tepora connects. Ortega is circling around him well, but he’s stopped throwing the big body shots and Tepora’s just head-hunting with wild winging hooks, some of which are landing. Short overhand right lands from Tepora, as does another jab combo. He eats two hard body shots from Ortega. Ortega connects with two short uppercuts.

Round 9: They get into a wild exchange, and it’s hard to tell if anybody landed despite five or six punches thrown. The action is stopped to deal with tape on Tepora’s glove. They tie up, and Ortega connects with some short uppercuts. Then he tries for more of them, and eats a hook from Tepora that backs him up. Tepora follows it up with a right uppercut that drops Ortega for the first knockdown of the bout! Tepora is rushing after him now — he wants to finish it. Wide hooks, and Ortega is turtling. The referee comes in to stop it, as Ortega was offering nothing in response.

Round 1: Bin connects wtith a nice one-two, ending with an overhand right that lands. He eats a pair of jabs, and then a hard, hard left hook. They tie up, and separate. Bin eats ahard, hard hook flush on the jaw when Bin charges straight in. Good first round, but it’s Canizales’.

Round 2: Canizales walks right into a straight left, but peppers Bin with a pair of body shots. Hard short left from Bin lands flush, but Canizales shakes it off. Not a lot of action in this round.

Round 3: Two hard punches to the body from Canizales. Bin is doing a good job of protecting his face, but he’s eating a lot of body shots in the process. Not a whole lot of action in the round.

Round 4: Both fighters are winging hard hooks, but it’s Bin who is eating the harder shots. He takes two hard body shots, and then a one-two hook combo to the face. Je eats a hard left hook. Uppercut from Canizales. Bin is staying in this, but he’s getting pepperd here. He does connect with a short uppercut, and then a body shot, but eats a hard right straight.

Round 5: Hard right hand from Canizales lands flush, and Bin is doing a lot more backing up. He started the fight pressing the action, but he’s eaten a lot of shots, especially to the body. Hard left hook from Canizales barely misses. More of the same here.

Round 6: More bodywork from Canizales, and Bin is trying harder to circle away from them now. Canizales is working his level changes brilliantly, and Bin doesn’t really land anything in the sixth. Canizalez lands a nice left straight as the round ends.Round 7: Bin can’t put together anything extensive, as Canizales cuts everything off with a massive body shot. Bin does come forward with a stretching right hand, and it lands hard on the head of Canizales, but he shakes it off. It was his best shot of the fight, and Canizales still likely won that round.

Round 8: Bin comes forward and puts the pressure on Canizales, working multiple combos, including a hard right to the body and two hooks to the head, and Canizales is under pressure for the first time. When Bin lets up, Canizales throws the jab out and it lands flush. Two straights from Bin land, as does an uppercut from Canizales. Hard right straight from Canizales are landing and Bin staggers.

Round 9: Bin comes out fast again, but Canizales is ready for it this time, and tees him up. Again it’s the straight right hand, right down the middle, and it staggered Bin. Canizales may be able to finish this one. Another hard right lands. Big jab from Canizales. Body shot from Bin lands, but it looked weak.

Round 10: Not a lot going on to start this round. Canizales is keeping the pressure on Bin, but he’s not throwing heavy, at least in the first half of the round. He lands a hard straight right to the nose. He gets Bin against the ropes and keeps him there with hard straights and jabs.

Round 11: Bin lands a hard right over the top, one he set up with a short punch to the body. Canizales responds with another hard right straight. Bin has a cut near his right eye, and he gets dropped! A knockdown from Canizales. Bin tried to save himself with the ropes, and the referee called it as a knockdown, correctly.

Round 12: Bin rushes Canizales, but he handles it, and lands ah ard body shot. Hard right from Canizales and it staggers Bin. Three straight jabs from Canizales. Another left jab, then a big right hand. Right to the body from Canizales. Big right hand knocks Bin down with five seconds remaining, and the referee stops the bout. So it’ll go down as a TKO victory.

Welterweight: Manny Pacquiao def. Lucas Matthysse via KO (Round 7)
Featherweight: Jhack Tepora def. Edivaldo Ortega via TKO (Round 9)
Junior Flyweight: Carlos Canizales def. Lu Bin via TKO (Round 12)