Manny Pacquiao stopped WBA champion Lucas Matthysse in the seventh round to win back the welterweight world title at the age of 39. Pacquiao rolled back the years with a devastating display, initially knocking down his Argentine opponent in the third round at the Axiata Arena in Kuala Lumpur. And when Matthysse went down for the third time in the seventh, referee Kenny Bayless stepped in to stop the contest. Image: Pacquiao claimed his first knockout win in nine years It was Filipino icon Pacquiao's first win inside the distance since 2009 and the 60th victory of his incredible 23-year career, which now looks certain to extend beyond his 40th birthday in December. Matthysse is renowned as a big puncher himself but he was floored by a stunning left uppercut in the third. The 35-year-old had no answer to the speed of Pacquiao and went down again in the fifth, before a right-left combination finished him off two rounds later. Image: Pacquiao proved too fast for his younger opponent "I'm surprised I knocked him down so early," said Pacquiao who extended his record to 60 wins, seven losses and two draws. "I'm surprised I knocked Matthysse down in the third, fifth and seventh. It was a long time ago since I've done that, I came out smoking hot. "We did a good job in training. We were not pushing hard, we controlled our pace and ourselves. "I'm no longer young, so thanks to my trainer and all my team members." A shell-shocked Matthysse had come in with a record of 36 knockouts in 39 wins with just four defeats. "It's most difficult to be fighting Manny Pacquiao," he said. "He's a great fighter. I lost to a great legend."<doc-sep>Manny Pacquiao is faded. But boy howdy, is he not faded enough for the likes of Lucas Matthysse. Last night’s win in Kuala Lumpur was the 39-year-old Pacquiao’s first stoppage victory since he routed Miguel Cotto in 2009. He was in against a similarly past-peak opponent who probably never would have beaten him or even given him that great of a fight, but still, Manny looked sharp. He looked good in there. He dominated. In a sense, he looked like The Pacquiao of Old. But he’s not The Pacquiao of Old. He never will be again. Time has taken its toll as it does to any fighter, be they a journeyman or a legend. The most important thing Pacquiao showed, I think, is that there’s still some spark. I worried going in that the story lined up too perfectly for this to be Pacquiao’s end in the ring, and I don’t shy away from the fact that I made a reckless gut feeling pick for a Matthysse win. As I said repeatedly, it wasn’t that I thought Matthysse was better than Pacquiao now. It was that Pacquiao, nearing 40, has the miles, was working without Freddie Roach, is “distracted” by his work as a Senator in the Philippines, and is essentially half-retired at this point. When fighters put a foot out the door, it generally doesn’t take long for things to end. Maybe, though, what I overlooked was that Pacquiao might have needed a fresh start without Roach. Fighters change trainers all the time. Maybe Manny and Freddie had simply gone as far as they were gonna go together — and they scaled some unprecedented heights — and the spark between them had gone out. No more to teach, no more to learn. Maybe the year off did Manny some good. Maybe the way he fought against Jeff Horn, where I thought he deserved to win but understood how the judges came to their conclusion that he didn’t, woke Manny up a little bit. If I’m going to continue fighting, he may have thought, changes must happen, because this isn’t working anymore. So here we are. Manny Pacquiao with his 60th win, the WBA “world” welterweight title, and some options. When asked after the fight what he wanted to do next, Pacquiao simply stated he wanted to get back to his political work at home in the Philippines. But that’s his answer. Let’s wildly speculate. The big one, the one that Top Rank seems to want and Manny wants, is a move down to 135 to face top pound-for-pound fighter Vasyl Lomachenko. It seems an easier sell now to me than it did before the win over Matthysse. Pacquiao looked strong and motivated against Lucas, and a fight against Lomachenko might be more intriguing on paper for a lot of people, myself included. Am I interested in what Manny might still have left at 135? Sure. Lomachenko is not a natural 135, but that might really still be Manny’s best weight, if he can make it comfortable. But it does still remind me of Oscar De La Hoya droppin back to welterweight to fight Manny, and we know how that went. Still, that was an important torch-passing fight. If nothing else, Pacquiao-Lomachenko could be another one. Speaking of torch-passing, we thought for a while that Manny would potentially pass to Terence Crawford. Instead, Crawford has already made himself arguably the No. 1 man at 147, and there seems to be little Top Rank interest in matching the two at this point. So that’s probably a no-go. As far as the PBC welterweights — Errol Spence Jr, Keith Thurman, Danny Garcia or Shawn Porter, etc. — those guys are probably out, too. How about Amir Khan? Pac and Khan used to train together at the Wild Card, and for years there’s been talk off-and-on of them fighting each other at some point. It seems viable for each man at this stage of his career, and would probably still be the biggest fight available for Khan, even bigger than the Kell Brook bout he doesn’t really seem that excited about. A rematch with Jeff Horn? I doubt it. Pacquiao passed on it once and now Horn has been soundly beaten by Crawford. That rematch would have had some kick last November, but it doesn’t right now. If I were making a guess, we’ll see Manny against Lomachenko. Too many people (as in, Manny and Top Rank) want it, and even if Lomachenko and his team didn’t before, money talks and it’s easily the biggest money fight for Lomachenko. And maybe Pacquiao’s performance against Matthysse changed their mind, who knows? We’ll have to wait and see. But Manny doesn’t look done to me, and I’m interested to see what direction he heads now. There’s still a little something there for Pacman.<doc-sep>Adrien Broner was a keen spectator of last night’s fight between Manny Pacquiao and Lucas Matthysse knowing that he could be one of the names on the list for Manny Pacquiao as he winds down his career. Broner recently claimed he had signed a promotional deal with old Pacquiao nemesis, Floyd Mayweather, but following last night’s fight Broner took to social media to let fans know he isn’t even talking to Mayweather at the moment. However he still wanted to defend his name to Pacquiao fans: “And me and @floydmayweather not even speaking to each other right now but you boxing fans are on DOPE if y’all think Pacquiao better than him! Don’t get me wrong Pacquiao is one of our boxing greats but he ain’t got shit on FLOYD!#Facts” Well, Mayweather did settle that debate himself in fairness when the two boxed in the biggest fight in the sport’s histroy back in 2015. He won a comprehensive unanimous points decision at the time. Pacquiao following the fight cited a shoulder injury as hampering his performance. Obviously a rematch with Mayweather will never happen now with the American boxer retired, but a fight with Adrien Broner in the next year or so certainly is not out of the realms of possibilities. Niall Doran is the Founder and Managing Editor of Boxing News and Views. You can follow him on Twitter @NiallerDoran and on Instagram @niallerdoran Share this: Twitter Facebook<doc-sep>
Manny Pacquiao has called out Floyd Mayweather for a rematch of their 2015 bout. Pac-Man returned to the ring after a one-year hiatus on Sunday, stopping Lucas Matthysse in seven rounds for a Welterweight title belt and scoring his first knockout since a TKO of Miguel Cotto eight years ago. Soon after the fight, the 39-year-old revealed he has already turned his attention to Mayweather, who retired for a second time with an undefeated 50-0 record after beating UFC star Conor McGregor in June last year. "Mayweather? If he decides to go back to boxing then that is the time we are going to call the shots," he told reporters after his victory, as reported by ESPN. "I have the belt, so it's up to him. If he wants to come back in boxing let's do a second one." The Filipino and "Money" fought in Las Vegas in May 2015, with the American winning by unanimous decision to retain the WBA Super Welterweight title and the WBC welterweight crown, as well as claiming the WBO welterweight title. Following his second retirement, speculation Mayweather might return to the ring abounded and the 40-year-old did little to dismiss it. In February, the 12-time world champion hinted he had held talks over a "billion dollar" return. "There's been talks," Mayweather confirmed in an interview with Forbes. "We don't know if it's a boxing ring or maybe an octagon." Pacquiao, however, indicated he had some contingency plans should a rematch against Mayweather not materialize. He name-checked Amir Khan and Vasily Lomachenko. The Briton returned to the ring in April after a two-year absence and stopped Phil Lo Greco in 39 seconds, while Lomachenko won by technical KO against Jorge Linares in May to secure the WBA Super Lightweight title. "Yes that's a potential opponent; Amir Khan," he added. "There's a lot of potential opponents there, like Lomachenko, there are so many fighters that have potential to be my opponent next." Lomachenko is almost 10 years younger than Pacquiao, but the Filipino, who claimed the 60th win of his career in 69 bouts, insisted he still feels 27. However, to fight the Ukrainian—who has won nine of his 12 professional bouts by KO—Pacquiao would have to move down closer to 140 pounds, with Lomachenko instead having to come up from 135 pounds.