Manny Pacquiao, 46, appears to turn into the second-oldest world champion in boxing historical past with a win over WBC welterweight titleholder Mario Barrios on Saturday on the MGM Grand Backyard Enviornment in Las Vegas, Nevada.
A win for Pacquiao may arrange a possible Floyd Mayweather Jr. rematch — no, we’ve got not gone again to 2010. However Pacquiao will definitely be hoping to show again the clock on Saturday and discover a efficiency that may’ve been anticipated from him within the late 2010s.
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Apart from an intriguing title showdown in the primary occasion, there are two thrilling rematches on the pay-per-view card and the return of a former champion. It is an action-packed occasion on Saturday, so let’s dive in and break all of it down.
Betting odds courtesy of BetMGM.
WBC welterweight title: Manny Pacquiao (+260) vs. Mario Barrios (-313)
“Father time waits for nobody,” the previous adage goes.
Pacquiao, at age 46, hopes to defy logic and dethrone the 16-years-younger Barrios of his WBC title on Saturday. “PacMan” hasn’t stepped right into a boxing ring in virtually 4 years since his determination loss to late-replacement Yordenis Ugas in 2021. The final time the Filipino legend received a combat was his cut up determination overcome Keith Thurman in 2019 — six years to the day on Sunday.
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When Pacquiao confronted Japanese kickboxer Rukiya Anpo in July 2024, he seemed a shell of the person who was a fixture on pound-for-pound lists a decade in the past. If Pacquiao had been going through one other welterweight champion this weekend, particularly Jaron “Boots” Ennis, I would not give him even a distant probability. However with Barrios, it turns into a extra attention-grabbing matchup.
Barrios is likely one of the weaker champions in latest welterweight historical past. He misplaced to Keith Thurman comfortably three years in the past and fought to a draw towards a past-his-best Abel Ramos this previous November.
If Pacquiao goes to immediately come again and win a welterweight title, he is picked the right champion to do it towards. Even so, I do not assume we are going to see Pacquiao get his arms raised in Las Vegas.
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Pacquiao was overwhelmed by precision and easy long-range boxing towards Cuba’s Ugas 4 years in the past. On that evening, the velocity and footwork that made the world fall in love with Pacquiao had been nowhere to be discovered. And it is extremely unlikely that 4 years later, we are going to see these attributes reappear once more.
Many boxers assume they’ll come out of retirement and carry out like they did many years in the past. A fighter is at all times the final to confess when his time is over. Lately, we have seen 58-year-old Mike Tyson, 60-year-old Oliver McCall, and now 46-year-old Ricky Hatton all come out of retirement. It was painful to observe Tyson and McCall return so a few years after their prime, and little question it is going to be equally tough to observe Hatton finish a 13-year retirement in December.
If Barrios can use his attain benefit to maintain the combat with Pacquiao at lengthy vary and meet the Filipino with a pointy jab each time he makes an attempt to shut the hole — as Barrios did at instances towards Ramos — I can see Barrios successful comfortably. Pacquiao’s timing and velocity will let him down. The thoughts is aware of what to do, however the physique will not be capable to carry it out.
Anpo, who has an identical body to Barrios, set out the blueprint to beat Pacquiao at this level in Pacquiao’s life. Barrios simply must observe it for 36 minutes.
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Choose: Barrios.
Sebastian Fundora (left) and Tim Tszyu rematch for the WBC tremendous welterweight title on Saturday.
(Melina Pizano by way of Getty Pictures)
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