Much of the boxing world winced collectively back in June when the idea of a Manny Pacquiao-Mario Barrios fight was first brought up. Surely, this was just a headline-grabber used to hype Pacquiao’s exhibition fight the following month. Because, seriously, the 45-year-old future first ballot Hall of Famer shouldn’t be back in the real boxing mix anymore. Retired for three years already, the Filipino icon looked awful in his last real fight, a decisive unanimous decision loss to Cuba’s Yordenis Ugas in August of 2021. Two years before that, though, he did defy the odds by decisioning Keith Thurman for the WBA welterweight title. Two years.
