Lyu Bin celebrates winning gold for China at the 2015 AIBA Pro Championships at Guizhou Arena in Guiyang. In just his second pro fight, Lyu is challenging WBA world junior flyweight champ Carlos Canizales on July 15 in Kuala Lumpur. (Photo provided to China Daily)
Manny Pacquiao's latest star trek has set the stage for a Chinese fighter to boldly go where no man has gone before.
On July 15 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Pacquiao, the 39-year-old Filipino phenom, will attempt to wrest the WBA welterweight championship from Argentina's Lucas Matthysse.
The only eight-division world champion in the history of the sport, Pacquiao (59-7-2, 38 KO) has won 11 major titles and was the first boxer to capture the lineal crown in five different weight classes.
Pacquiao is also the first fighter to win major world titles in four of the original eight divisions－flyweight, featherweight, lightweight and welterweight－so regardless of the outcome against Matthysse (39-4, 36 KO), his legacy as one of the ring's all-time greats is assured.
The more compelling storyline in Kuala Lampur will be the 12-round featured prelim, which will see China's Lyu Bin attempt to become the first male boxer to capture a major world title in just his second pro fight, breaking the all-time record (three fights) set by Thailand's Saensak Muangsurin in 1975 and equaled by Ukraine's Vasyl Lomachenko in 2014.
Lyu, the junior flyweight gold medalist at the 2012 AIBA World Youth Championships in Armenia, represented China at the 2016 Rio Olympics, where he dropped a controversial decision to Kenya's Peter Warui in the preliminary round.
The 24-year-old from Yongkang, Zhejiang province, turned pro last September with a third-round KO of Thailand's Wanchai Nianghansa on a Beijing card co-promoted by Pacquiao－who was suitably impressed.
"Lyu Bin is a fighter with tremendous potential, and if I am involved in promoting his next fight, I will give him the chance to challenge for a world title," Pacquiao said afterwards.
The Filipino icon, whose MP Promotions is handling the July 15 card, has more than lived up to his word, not only signing Lyu to square off against unbeaten WBA junior flyweight champ Carlos Canizales (20-0-1, 16 KO), but inviting the Chinese southpaw to join his training camp.
This won't be Lyu's first dance in the global spotlight. At the Rio Games, he raised his fist in anticipation of victory before the referee made the announcement.
When his Kenyan opponent was declared the winner, Lyu continued to celebrate like he had triumphed－earning negative reportage in some Western media.
On Weibo, China's Twitter-like social network, Lyu's message stating "the judge has stolen my dream" was shared more than 250,000 times. National broadcaster CCTV also weighed in, airing several interviews with foreign reporters who said they thought Lyu won the bout.
Aside from Pacquiao vs Matthysse and Lyu vs Canizales, other world-title fights on the card at Axiata Arena will feature Filipino featherweight Jhack Tepora taking on Mexico's Edivaldo Ortega for the vacant IBO title, and Pakistan's Muhammad Waseem, who will face South Africa's Moruti Mthalane for the vacant IBF flyweight crown.
"This is only the beginning," Pacquiao said at a media conference last week.
"I believe there is so much that we can do to uplift the spirit of our Asian boxers in order for them to shine globally.
"I am proud to assemble an array of Asian boxers on my undercard to fight against the world. Our goal at MP Promotions is to rekindle the glory and legacy of fights that have defined boxing history."
