Oscar De La Hoya Confident That Manny Pacquiao vs. Lucas Matthysse Happens

Although one would think that with three weeks before Manny Pacquiao and Lucas Matthysse fight for the WBA “regular” welterweight title, al outside factors that would prevent the fight from happening would have been resolved.

The fight, scheduled to take place on July 15 in Malaysia, is still scheduled to happen, but there has been reports of the fight going through financial issues that could derail the fight. Oscar De La Hoya, who promotes Matthysse, told Boxing Scene that he believes the fight will happen and that he has been assured that his side will get paid as originally planned.

“We have a fight. I feel very, very confident the fight is going to happen, let’s put it that way. I can’t give you specific details of our deal but I feel very, very confident it’s going to happen,” De La Hoya said.

Despite rumors circulating that the fight won’t happen, all sides have said the fight will happen with Pacquiao even denying the reports. The card, which also features two other world title fights, figures to take place on either ESPN television or on the ESPN+ app after Pacquiao’s promotional company missed a deadline to have the fight be shown in the United States as an ESPN pay-per-view event.

Pacquiao has not fought since losing his WBO welterweight title to Jeff Horn last year in Australia in Pacquiao’s first and only fight on ESPN since leaving HBO. Pacquiao’s last pay-per-view fight was back in 2016 when he won the WBO title against Jessie Vargas in an event organized by Top Rank.