Manny Pacquiao had his world title dreams dashed as he was awarded a draw against Mario Barrios in his recent comeback at the age of 46.
Manny Pacquiao was unlucky not to be awarded a win over Mario Barrios in his most recent outing, as the Filipino legend rolled back the years to fight to a draw against a world champion 16 years his junior.
Pacquiao now boasts a record of 62-8-3. Of his 73 fights, just three have ended in a draw – the Barrios fight, his iconic bout with Juan Manuel Marquez, and another, that dashed his world title dream back in 2001.
Photo by JOHN G. MABANGLO/AFP via Getty ImagesManny Pacquiao drew against Agapito Sanchez after cut ruins unification bout
By June 2001, Pacquiao had already been a world champion, though in the flyweight division.
On short notice, just days before he had planned to return to the Philippines from the United States, Pacquiao was called and asked to fill in for Lehlo Ledwaba’s opponent in a world title contest.
Pacquiao had been awaiting his shot at greatness, and when it arrived, he did not let it go. The relatively unknown Filipino became a household name overnight as he knocked out the IBF super-bantamweight champion in front of onlookers at the MGM Grand.
It was the biggest win of his career so far, but when it came time to unify, disaster struck.
Five months after his big break, Pacquiao faced 31-9-2 WBO champion Agapito Sanchez in San Francisco.
Sanchez lost two points for low blows, but was still ahead on one scorecard going into the sixth round.
An accidental head-butt in round two was a disaster in the making, and the sixth round issued its brutal conclusion. Another head-butt worsened the cut Pacquiao had sustained from the first, prompting the ringside doctor to call off the fight.
With Sanchez ahead on one card and Pacquiao on the other, it all came down to one judge as the fight went to a technical decision.
That judge, Marshall Walker, had the bout 56-56, and Pacquiao’s hopes to unify were over.
Manny Pacquiao lost a fight so controversially that a judge quit the sport
Though many feel Pacquiao should have won the Barrios fight, it was a far cry from a robbery, though Pac-Man has certainly been a victim of one of those, too.
In 2012, 54-3-2 Pacquiao faced 28-0 Tim Bradley.
After 12 rounds, everyone in attendance was shocked to hear that Bradley had beaten Pacquiao by split decision.
According to BoxRec, Teddy Atlas said of the decision, “It’s either corruption or incompetence. There’ll be a rematch. It speaks to the corruption of the sport. The criminals will be rewarded.”
World-class commentator, Jim Lampley, said, “That is a terrible, bogus decision….Tim Bradley has scored and upset split decision victory over Manny Pacquiao. God only knows how.”
One judge in particular received a lot of stick for the decision, and quit after making another awful call years later.
CJ Ross quit the sport of boxing after scoring Floyd Mayweather vs Canelo Alvarez a draw, leading the fight to end in a majority decision for Mayweather.
Pacquiao went on to defeat Bradley twice after the loss.