By Nick Giongco
Fallen Argentine fighter Lucas Matthysse received widespread criticisms when he returned to his homeland after losing the WBA welterweight crown to Manny Pacquiao in Malaysia over the weekend.
Speaking to Hispanic fight scribe Elisinio Castillo upon his arrival in Argentina, Matthysse lashed out at his detractors, vehemently denying that he quit in the fight.
“They say I (quit) and a lot of bullsh*t, nonsense,” Matthysse told boxingscene.
“I know everything I did, and I know what kind of effort I made. But things did not work out.”
Matthysse was knocked down thrice, the last one in the seventh round after being rammed by a left uppercut, the same punch the sent him crashing to the floor the first time in the third round.
In the fifth canto, Matthysse took a knee after being slammed by a right to the temple in a delayed reaction.
“Just as we criticize (Argentine soccer star Lionel) Messi, who is the best soccer player, (the critics) are going to kill me. That’s how we Argentines are. You have to put up with everything people say, but I’m very proud of where I came from and I got the most out of what an Argentine boxer can aspire to achieve,” said the 35-year-old Matthysse, who was defending the WBA 147-lb diadem for the first time.
Messi’s name was dragged since he failed to carry Argentina to the World Cup finals, stressed Matthysse.
“You win some and you lose some. They give you criticism, but we Argentines are like that, what are you going to do. Right now I have to rest. I was away from home for a long time, I want to be with my daughter and my family, who are the ones who always welcome me with a hug.”
It remains in doubt whether Matthysse will return to the ring as he earned a purse anywhere between $2.5 million to $3 million, something he will not get if the opponent was not the great Pacquiao.
