Manny Pacquiao returned to the ring at age 46 and fought to a majority draw against WBC welterweight champion Mario Barrios on Saturday at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
Two judges scored the fight even, at 114-114 and the third judge scored it 115-113 in favor of Barrios. Pacquiao, who entered the fight as the underdog (+210 per ESPN BET), was trying to become the oldest fighter to win a welterweight world title, a record he already broke when he defeated Keith Thurman by split decision in July 2019 at the age of 40.
Pacquiao, boxing’s only eight-division champion, had last fought in a unanimous decision loss to Yordenis Ugas in August 2021 when he was 42 years old. In that fight, Ugas outlanded Pacquiao in total punches (151-130), jabs (50-42) and power punches (101-88). Ugas also connected on 59% of his power punches.
Barrios, who’s 16 years younger than Pacquiao, won the WBC interim belt by defeating Ugas by unanimous decision in September 2023. He made one defense before being elevated to full titleholder when Terence Crawford vacated the belt to move up in weight. He retained the title in a split draw against Abel Ramos on the Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson undercard in November.
Barrios’ two losses came against Gervonta “Tank” Davis in 2021 and Thurman in 2022. Davis, a southpaw like Pacquiao, dropped Barrios twice in their fight, cut him over the left eye and stopped him in Round 11.
Also on the card, Sebastian Fundora defended his WBC junior middleweight world title with a TKO victory over Tim Tszyu in a rematch. Fundora defeated Tszyu by split decision in their first fight in March 2024.
Earlier in the day, Oleksandr Usyk defeated Daniel Dubois by fifth-round KO at London’s Wembley Stadium to regain the undisputed heavyweight championship.
Andreas Hale was in Las Vegas to bring you all that’s happening at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, including undercard results, fight updates and round-by-round analysis.
