It's official, eight division world champion Manny Pacquiao (59-7-2, 38 KOs) will return to the ring without his longtime trainer Freddie Roach.

Pacquiao has been trained by Roach since 2001 - and the two have worked side by side for 34 fights.

The Filipino superstar will challenge WBA "regular" welterweight champion Lucas Matthysse (39-4, 36 KOs) on July 14 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The bout will be Pacquiao's first since suffering a shocking twelve round decision loss at the hands of Jeff Horn, which took place last July before a crowd of 51,000 at the Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, Australia.

Pacquiao's manager, Michael Koncz, has confirmed that Roach will be replaced by the boxer's best friend and assistant trainer, Buboy Fernandez.

"That's Manny's decision. Manny has told me Buboy will be handling the training on this fight," Koncz said to ESPN. "What's important to Manny is that he has one voice to listen to in the corner that he trusts, and I guess that's Buboy for this fight."

Roach, a Hall of Fame trainer, was not given any notice of the change.

Koncz would not specify the exact reasons for the parting of ways, but says Pacquiao was not happy with aspects of Roach's work in the Horn fight and he wasn't happy with some of the statements Roach has made in the press.

"There was some concerns Manny had in the last fight and some statements Freddie made to the media that Manny wasn't very pleased about," Koncz said.

Koncz also declined to discuss Pacquiao's promotional status with Top Rank.

The boxer has claimed that his contract has expired, while Top Rank claims the deal is still ongoing.

"We're working together on this fight," Koncz said. "They've done good for us for a long time, and we've done good for them for a long time. So we're working with them on this fight. We don't have any disputes with Top Rank. Hopefully, this fight with Matthysse is a big success and Manny is victorious, and then we can see if we can do a fight with [Vasiliy] Lomachenko with Top Rank in the fall."