Manny Pacquiao and Mario Barrios are less than two months away from facing of in the ring.
After four years in retirement, Pacquiao will make a controversial return to the sport to face WBC world welterweight champion Barrios at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday July 19.
Pacquiao’s last outing came against former WBA world welterweight champion Yordenis Ugas, who comprehensively outpointed the Filipino icon in the summer of 2021 to subsequently send him into a temporary retirement.
As the boxing world awaits what is set to be an intriguing showdown between ‘PacMan’ and Barrios, two-weight world champion and Olympic silver medalist Amir Khan, who has sparred both fighters, has given an honest prediction of what he believes the outcome will be.
Speaking to iFL TV, Khan claimed it is a ‘perfect’ match-up for Pacquiao who is bidding to become a world champion once again and potentially the oldest welterweight champion in history.
“What a perfect match-up that is for Manny Pacquiao. Look, I sparred Barrios, I’ve trained with Barrios, he used to train with Virgil [Hunter] back in the day.
“A very good fighter, a very good boxer, [but] he doesn’t bring much, he’s not dangerous enough for someone like Manny Pacquiao, he’s not a hard, hard fight, he’s basic but he’s good at his basic stuff … For Manny, I think it’s a great fight. It’s a fight that’s winnable even if he’s had half a hard camp.”
Should he be victorious over Barrios, Pacquiao will break the record he set himself back in 2019 when he defeated Keith Thurman to become WBA welterweight champion. Now, at 46-years-old, the Filipino great could write himself into boxing history yet again, despite many left questioning whether it will be a step too far for the eight-division world champion.
