By Keith Idec

Joel Diaz delivered a message Thursday to anyone that thinks Lucas Matthysse made this long, transpacific trip simply for the money.

While Pacquiao will attempt to re-establish himself by winning another welterweight title, the 35-year-old Matthysse will try to remain in position for another high-profile fight against a fellow welterweight champion.

“We got everything ready to go,” Diaz said during a press conference Thursday, according to The Manila Standard. “Lucas Matthysse is not here for a paycheck. He is here to take his title back to his people.

“It cost us 14 years of hard work for Lucas to be a champion. He is not going to come here and give up his belt.”

Argentina’s Matthysse (39-4, 36 KOs, 1 NC) won a vacant version of the WBA’s 147-pound championship by knocking out Thailand’s Tewa Kiram in his last fight. Matthysse’s eighth-round knockout of Kiram (38-1, 28 KOs) on January 27 at The Forum in Inglewood, California, thrust him into position for this meaningful fight just three bouts after Ukraine’s Viktor Postol (29-2, 12 KOs) knocked out Matthysse in the 10th round of their WBC super lightweight championship match in October 2015.

The 39-year-old Pacquiao (59-7-2, 38 KOs) will fight for the first time since suffering a controversial loss to Jeff Horn last July 2. Horn (18-1-1, 12 KOs) upset Pacquiao by unanimous decision in a 12-rounder at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, Australia, Horn’s hometown.

The Pacquiao-Matthysse match will take place early Sunday morning at Axiata Arena in Kuala Lumpur. ESPN+ will stream it live in the United States on Saturday night as the main event of a two-bout broadcast that’ll begin at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT.

 In the opener of the ESPN+ stream, Filipino southpaw Jhack Tepora (21-0, 16 KOs) will meet Mexico’s Edivaldo Ortega (26-1-1, 12 KOs) in a 12-round, 126-pound championship match for the WBA’s interim featherweight title.

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.