Kuala Lumpur, Jul 15 (IANS): Philippine boxing legend Manny Pacquiao won a world welterweight champion title here on Sunday, defeating his opponent Lucas Matthysse from Argentina by technical knockout (TKO).

The 39-year-old Pacquiao first knocked down Matthysse, the defending World Boxing Association (WBA) welterweight champion in the third round, before Matthysse quickly recovered, reports Xinhua news agency.

Pacquiao continued his aggressiveness with the overwhelming support from his Philippine fans, including visiting President Rodrigo Duterte, who watched the match with Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamed.

The 35-year-old Matthysse knelt down in fifth round after taking hits from Pacquiao, and again in seventh round which ended the game which Pacquiao won by TKO.

Pacquiao attributed his first knockout in almost a decade to the effective strategy and good training.

"At the beginning of the first round, I had it in my mind that I could control the fight," he said in a post match press conference.

"But our strategy is to be patient, to take time, don't rush, don't be careless like what we did before, " he said.