Manny Pacquiao’s bid for history came up short on Saturday as Mario Barrios retained the WBC welterweight title with the bout ending in a majority draw.

The fight was scored 114-114, 114-114, and 115-113 for Barrios.

If there was any doubt that Pacquiao could still captivate a live audience, it was erased in the first round. The legend drew big pops from the crowd with every punch landed in the first round and was the more effective puncher in the early going. 

Even Barrios seemed to be impressed with the 46-year-old. 

PacMan was impressive, but Barrios had some moments in the early rounds. His height posed a problem for his opponent and he was able to stop Pacquiao’s forward movement when he used his jab. 

That dynamic began to take effect as the fight progressed into the middle rounds. Pacquiao’s power punches didn’t seem to make the impact they once did, and Barrios got more comfortable letting his hands go. 

Barrios’ somewhat cautious approach had scorecards all over the place as the fight progressed. Others favored Pacquiao’s flurries while the pro-Barrios crowd appreciated his ability to knock Pacquiao off his rhythm with his jab. 

The crowd added an extra layer of intrigue to the scoring. Those in attendance exploded when Pacquiao threw anything that looked successful while Barrios clearly had to do more to get a reaction. 

Barrios’ inactivity as the fight got to the later rounds didn’t help him. He faced a lot of criticism for not taking the fight to the older Pacquiao. 

Ultimately, it was a combination of Barrios’ passivity and a good enough performance from Pacquiao that nearly led to him winning a title.

Pacquiao was already the oldest champion in WBC history at 40 years old. With a win, he could have extended that record to 46 years old.

PacMan had been retired for nearly four years after a unanimous decision loss to Yordenis Ugas in 2021. However, he missed the sport he once dominated enough to step back into the ring.

“Those four years that I retired, I really missed boxing,” Pacquiao said Friday, per Jed Meshew of MMA Fighting. “It was good for my body because I was able to give my body a rest for four years. … Now I’m back. I’m excited for the fight. I’m really hungry to win again, and give the fans a good fight.”

Pacquiao is already a Hall of Famer, and his list of achievements is nearly unrivaled. However, he recently said he feels like he could have even more fights in him.

“I think I have two or three more fights left. I feel like I could do this for another couple of years. But I’m just taking it one at a time,” he told Sky Sports.

Given the controversy in the scoring on this one, it wouldn’t be shocking to see Pacquiao run it back and eventually win the title.