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Lucas Matthysse announces retirement from boxing

Fighters Network
02
Aug

After fourteen years as a pro, Lucas Matthysse is hanging up his gloves.

The 35-year-old nicknamed “La Maquina” for his Terminator-like destruction in the ring announced his retirement late Wednesday night, just weeks after his seventh round technical knockout loss to Manny Pacquiao in Malaysia.

In an Instagram post written in Spanish, Matthysse thanked the fans who followed his career as he looked towards “another stage in my life,” according to quotes translated by Elisinio Castillo.

“Thanks to boxing for changing my life,” said Matthysse, who ends his career with a 39-5 (36 knockouts) record.



“I am proud that I maintained my career for 10 years at the world level, where I fought with the best in boxing and I fulfilled my dream of being a world champion.”

In the post, Matthysse made mention of his long-time trainer Luis “Cuty” Barrera, who worked with him for 11 years of his career, and reminisced about his days on the national amateur team of his native Argentina, “a great experience in my life that I will always remember,” he says. 

Most fans will be more familiar with his exploits in the pro ranks. Matthysse’s heavy-punching style made him a cult favorite stateside, most notably in his destructions of Mike Dallas Jr. and Lamont Peterson. Even in defeats to Zab Judah and Devon Alexander, he was able to put both down before losing on points. 

Losses to Danny Garcia and Viktor Postol dimmed his profile as a top contender in the 140-pound picture, but he cemented his reputation as one of the bravest warriors of his era in epic brawls against John Molina and Russian Provodnikov.

Down twice and badly cut early, Matthysse stormed back to overwhelm Molina for an eleventh-round knockout win which earned Fight of the Year honors for 2014 from both the Boxing Writers Association of America and The Ring magazine.

The following year, Matthysse staged a curtain call against Provodnikov, standing up to the heavy right hands of Provodnikov to land his own damaging shots in a memorable fight which Matthysse won by majority decision.

After the knockout loss to Postol in 2015, when he suffered a broken orbital bone and and eye injury before taking the ten count, it seemed Matthysse had given as much as any boxer could and was fighting on borrowed time. He sat out 2016 and returned 19 months later as a welterweight with trainer Joel Diaz in his corner, stopping Emmanuel Taylor before finishing off Tewa Kiram earlier this year to win the WBA “regular” title, which some would be surprised to realize was the closest he had ever gotten to a full world championship.

The belt still managed to secure him a spot opposite Pacquiao in his highest profile to date. Matthysse was a step behind Pacquiao the whole night, going down three times as Pacquiao scored his first stoppage win in nine years.

“Thanks to all those who followed me in my career, for all of their love, because that is the most beautiful thing in this sport of boxing, which is a nice environment. Today, I decide to hang up the gloves because another stage in my life is coming. And many thanks to all of the people that I met thanks in boxing.”

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