Manny “Pac-Man” Pacquiao came out of retirement back in May, after losing his bid to return to the Senate in the Philippines. Many thought he was crazy to return to boxing at age 46, after nearly four years away from the sport. Most thought he was crazy for entering into a title fight against WBC welterweight champion Mario Barrios after just losing the election less than six weeks prior. Almost everyone, though, was surprised by the outcome.
With three rounds to go, Pacquiao led on all three judges’ scorecards. Despite the 16-year age gap with Barrios, the Hall of Famer landed his trademark lefts between the champion’s gloves and threw punches in bunches early. Pacquiao looked like the Pac-Man of old…until he didn’t. All three judges scored the final three rounds for Barrios. That left the scorecards 114-114, 114-114, and 115-113, resulting in a majority draw, and Barrios retained his title. Fans in attendance were stunned at the decision. Fellow boxers tweeted their disapproval online.
Numbers don’t lie, though. CompuBox stats showed that Barrios landed more jabs (45 to 20) and more overall punches (120 to 101) than his challenger. Pacquiao did have the advantage in power punches, landing 81 to Barrios’ 75. The champ threw 81 more total punches (658 to 577). With the draw, Barrios’ record is now 29-2-2, with 18 knockouts. Pacquiao is now 62-8-3, with 39 knockouts.
The draw is another black mark on Barrios’ title reign. Barrios only landed 18% of his punches against Pacquiao. The WBC welterweight champ has now looked less than impressive in his last three fights. He battled to a draw twice (against Pacquiao and Abel Ramos) and won a unanimous decision over Fabian Maidana. Barrios, though, had to battle Maidana with one eye swollen shut for an extended part of that fight.
After the fight, Pacquiao made it clear he wants to keep fighting. Like many in attendance and watching at home, Pacquiao thought he won the fight. Both he and Barrios said that they would be open to a rematch. Pacquiao stated that he felt like he did not get enough training time for the fight due to the election. He looked like he could have used the extra cardio in those final championship rounds. At 46 years old, though, he came out of the fight looking pretty good. His defense remains solid, and he showed flashes of his younger self in this bout, despite not having a full-length fight camp.
Pacquiao proved he can still be a major draw for the sport of boxing last weekend. After the draw, a rematch with Barrios would likely draw pretty well, as Pacquiao fans all thought he won the first time. With Barrios also interested in the rematch, it could happen. Barrios has a lot to prove after not getting a victory against a 46-year-old man who hadn’t fought in almost four years.
Of course, one of the first questions Pacquiao received after the fight was whether he would be interested in a rematch against Floyd Mayweather Jr. Mayweather defeated Pacquiao in their only matchup and retired undefeated at 49-0 four months later, after a unanimous decision over Andre Berto back in 2015. Mayweather returned in 2017 to defeat UFC star Conor McGregor, extending his record to 50-0. He officially retired (again) after that fight, and he has only boxed in exhibitions since.
Pacquiao and Mayweather have teased a rematch off and on for the better part of a decade. When asked post-fight on Saturday, Pacquiao said that if Mayweather unretires, he would fight him again. The first fight generated over $600 million and four million pay-per-view buys, both of which are still boxing records.
Pacquiao still wants to fight, and he showed Saturday that he still can. The question remains as to how many fights he has left in the tank. If he is only going to fight one more time, then it has to be “Money” Mayweather. The problem is Mayweather is 48 years old, undefeated, and estimated to be worth more than $400 million. He has no reason to take another fight against anyone, let alone a fellow Hall of Famer. That will be an easy fight to sell to everyone else, but for Mayweather, it should be a hard pass. I love both fighters and would love to see these two fight again, but I don’t see it happening.
That said, another Barrios fight makes total sense. Barrios needs to prove he can beat Pacquiao. After two draws in his last three fights, he needs to prove he can beat anyone. If Pacquiao is going to continue to fight, it makes sense for him to pick high-profile matchups. In Barrios, Pacquiao gets a chance at a title, against someone he feels that he has already beaten. On paper, Barrios has to seem like a much better fight to Pacquiao’s camp than one against any of the other top 147-pounders.
Brian Norman Jr. (WBO champ) has a defense coming up in November against Devin Haney (32-0, one no contest, 15 KOs). Rolly Romero (WBA champ) just watched Barrios nearly lose his gold, so his camp may be happy to let Barrios fight him again first. Jaron Ennis just vacated the IBF welterweight title, the Ring Magazine belt, and the WBA super welterweight belt. to move up in weight. That could lead to a lot of chaos, politics, and possibly interim champions. This makes it hard to pick a match against a non-champion until those organizations resolve who will fight for those belts.
Pacquiao is boxing’s only eight-division champ. As long as he wants to fight, he will get fights. Maybe, someone throws $200 million at Mayweather, and the fight everyone wants finally comes to fruition. More likely, though, Pacquiao fights Barrios again, and those fighters and their fans get closure. Pacquiao and his camp hand-picked Barrios the first time for a reason. They wanted a winnable, high-profile fight, and that is just what they got. Styles make fights, and Barrios’ style made for a fight that manager Sean Gibbons and long-time trainer Freddie Roach think that Pacquiao can take advantage of.
Father Time is undefeated. I don’t know if Pacquiao will be able to fight a better fight the second time around. Odds are, Barrios will not underestimate him for a second time. I feel like Pacquiao showed Barrios everything he had in the first fight, but Barrios (again) did not fight his best fight. Barrios is a beatable champion, but I am not sure that a 46-year-old Pacquiao will be the one to do it. The Hall of Famer, though, has earned the right to prove me wrong.
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