Manny Pacquiao surprised a lot of people with his performance against Mario Barrios.
The Filipino great was returning to boxing at the age of 46, in what was his first professional fight since losing a WBA welterweight title clash to Yordenis Ugas back in August 2021.
Pacquiao’s last victory had come in July 2019 when he defeated Keith Thurman to become the oldest welterweight world champion of all time at 40-years-old, meaning it had been six years since ‘Pac-Man’ last got his hand raised.
It meant that there were a lot of concerns that he could be biting off more than he could chew when he took on WBC welterweight champion Barrios at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas in July, but Pacquiao proved a lot of those doubters wrong.
He was extremely competitive throughout the 12-round contest, with a large number of onlookers even feeling he had done enough to claim the win at the conclusion of the fight.
It wasn’t to be though as it was declared a majority decision draw, after the judges scored it 115-113 Barrios and 114-114 twice, seeing Pacquiao miss out on the chance to become world champion once again.
Having shared the ring with Pacquiao for 36 minutes, Barrios revealed in his post-fight press conference just what he made of the Filipino’s power, admitting that he still hits hard despite now being 46-years-old.
“He still has a lot of crack… He was very explosive and very tricky and I wasn’t trying to make a mistake by overcommitting on a shot that I wasn’t sure of.”
It’s currently unknown what Pacquiao’s next move will be following his bout with Barrios, with a number of opponents calling out ‘Pac-Man’ for a fight.