Manny ‘Pac-Man’ Pacquiao (62-8-2; 39 KOs), one of the greatest boxers in history, made his return to boxing official last week. At 46 years of age, he will face Mario Barrios (29-2-1; 19 KOs) for the World Boxing Council (WBC) welterweight world title. The fight will take place on July 19 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, almost four years after his last fight, against Cuban Yordenis Ugas, with whom he lost while trying to regain the world title.
The eight-division champion preferred not to make his return official until after the Philippine senatorial elections, where in his role as a politician he faced the elections that ultimately prevented him from chaining a third term.
Let’s remember that Manny already made history by joining the select club of world champions aged 40 or over. What is beyond his reach against Barrios will be to reach the mark of Bernard Hopkins, who even unified crowns at 49 years old. The fact that Pac-Man could equal is a record of Mayweather, who has beaten 23 fighters who were or had been world champions, while Manny has beaten 22. The former eight-weight champion lost the chance to tie if he beat Ugas and now he has this option again.
In any case, all the odds are against Manny. He looked slow and struggled quite a bit against an opponent like Ugas, a tough boxer, but one who would have had little chance against a younger Pacquiao. The Filipino also went into that fight after inactivity forced by the pandemic that was prolonged due to the presidential elections in which he ran.
Logically, the former champion will prepare conscientiously for this new challenge and he will do so again with Freddie Roach, with whom he created one of the most famous boxer-trainer duos of all time. The mission to defeat a champion 17 years his junior is not an easy one, but it is clear that Pac-Man has targeted a rather ‘earthly’ monarch. The ‘Aztec’s’ two defeats have come at the hands of Gervonta Davis and Keith Thurman.
The fight will take place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, where Pacquiao made his US debut and won his first title in the country, against Lehlohonolo Ledwaba on June 23, 2001. That day he was hired as a replacement and surprised everyone with his intense boxing. Now the situation is quite different, although judging by the videos that Manny publishes on social networks, he still has fast hands. His reflexes and ability to take punches are unknown.
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