Punch stats back up Pacquiao dominance

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – Throughout the buildup of his title duel with Lucas Matthysse, Manny Pacquiao promised to bring back the days when he was relentless with his fists.

Overwhelming opponents with the sheer volume of punches that he threw, they came in bunches and were hard to evade.

At the height of his prowess, against the likes of Antonio Margarito and Joshua Clottey, Pacquiao unloaded as many as a thousand punches, distorting their faces and pricking their bodies.

Well, at 39 years old, Pacquiao showed that he can still fire at will.

Stifling the Argentine’s defenses with hard shots that hurt a lot. Not only physically, but mentally.

Pacquiao not only outgunned Matthysse, he turned out to be the better shooter as well.

Final Punch Stats for #PacquiaoMatthysse: Pacquiao landed 44% of his power punches. Matthysse landed single-digit punches in 6 of the 7 rounds. pic.twitter.com/If7tciEsAJ

— CompuBox (@CompuBox) July 15, 2018

Throwing a total of 344 punches, Pacquiao landed 95 for a 28% conversion rate. It was far from spectacular, but impressive enough, considering that Matthysse could connect on only 57 of 246 punches for 23%.

Being a knockout artist, Matthysse was supposed to unload more power bombs. But Pacquiao hardly got intimidated by the Argentine having knocked 36 of 39 previous victims.

Pacquiao threw 181 power punches and landed 79 – more than twice as many as Matthysse’s – for a high 44% rate, the reason Matthysse hit the canvas thrice en route to yielding the World Boxing Association welterweight crown.

Matthysse retaliated with 131 power shots, but connected on only 36, barely stalling Pacquiao’s lunges and in-out assaults.

It was in the jabs department that Pacquiao’s accuracy was wanting. Out of the 163 jabs that he threw, Pacquiao landed only 16 for a lowly 10% conversion rate.

But Matthysse did not fare well either, connecting on 21 of 155 attempts for 18%.

Clearly, Pacquiao beat Matthysse to the draw and found his target. – Rappler.com