Manny Pacquiao didn’t have to look very far to find the inspiration for his ring return.
The legendary former eight-division champion has literally led a Hall of Fame career, as he is set for enshrinement this upcoming weekend. There was no reason for him to come back, at age 46 and nearly four years after his last fight.
However, the thrill of meeting with the media ahead of his training camp to break his own record as the oldest welterweight titlist ever –that’s what gets him out of bed and into the gym.
“I returned because I miss boxing,” Pacquiao told PBC host Ray Flores during a Los Angeles press conference to formally announce his challenge of WBC welterweight titlist Mario Barrios. “Especially this situation, being interviewed, press conferences, the training camp, everything like that. I miss that.
“I rested my body for four years. I’ve been in boxing for 30 years, so it was good to rest my body. Now I’m back, I’m excited to give the fans a good fight.”
Barrios-Pacquiao will headline a July 19 PBC on Prime Pay-Per-View event from MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Fittingly, the event comes six years – almost to the day – and the same venue from where Pacquiao registered his last win and added to an already historic career. A July 2019 split decision win over then-unbeaten Keith Thurman at MGM Grand saw a then 40-year-old Pacquiao claim the WBA welterweight title.
The odds aren’t quite in favor of the now 46-year-old version of Pacquiao, 62-8-2 (39 KOs). San Antonio’s Barrios, 29-2-1 (18 KOs), is a -333 favorite to beat the Filipino southpaw, according to bet365 sportsbook.
A win would not only see Pacquiao become by far the oldest welterweight to win a title but the only elected Hall of Famer to do so. No fighter who was either already in the Hall (see Alexis Arguello) or elected and awaiting enshrinement (Sugar Ray Leonard) enjoyed anything close to a successful comeback.
“I know that Mario Barrios trains hard, he has to defend this belt and I am his challenger,” said Pacquiao, also the only fighter in history to hold a major title in four separate decades. “I have to [go the] extra mile to punish myself in or order to win this fight.”
Pacquiao will fight at MGM Grand for the sixteenth time in his career. He is 10-4-1 at the venue that helped thrust him into notoriety with the U.S. audience, beginning with his June 2021 upset knockout win over then IBF 122lbs titlist Lehlohonolo Ledwaba.
The short notice assignment marked the start of Pacquiao’s journey that led to his becoming the second biggest star of his generation and arguably the greatest Asian fighter of all time.
Still, there remains just enough of an itch that he can only scratch with at least one more climb through the ropes.
“It means a lot to me and my boxing career, breaking my own record,” noted Pacquiao. “My goal is to leave a legacy for my boxing fans. A legacy that I can leave to the younger generation training to be a champion.”
