Manny Pacquiao is on the verge of making a sensational comeback to boxing.
The 46-year-old eight-division champion will lock horns with WBC world welterweight champion Mario Barrios on Saturday July 19 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
It will be Pacquiao’s first ring appearance in just shy of half a decade after he announced his retirement from the sport back in 2021, just a short while after he fell short in his bout against former WBA world welterweight champion Yordenis Ugas.
Barrios has reigned as the WBC champion at 147lbs since last summer having initially held the interim version of the title. The 30-year-old from San Antonio, Texas was elevated to champion after Terence Crawford vacated the crown ahead of his move up to light-middleweight.
Speaking to the BoxeoUrbanoNetwork, Ugas, who lost to Barrios two years after beating Pacquiao, has shared his thoughts on the upcoming welterweight showdown between his former opponents and admits he believes ‘El Azteca’ could be taking a ‘big risk’ in facing the Filipino icon.
“It could be a lose-lose situation. If he wins, people will say, ‘Pacquiao was old.’ If he loses, they’ll say, ‘You lost to an old man.’
“Barrios is taking a big risk. I fought Pacquiao when he was coming off a huge win. He had just beaten the top welterweight at the time in 2019. This time it’s harder. Pacquiao’s coming off a four-year layoff and a loss. We’ll see. It’ll be a good fight, though.”
Victory for Pacquiao would see him become the oldest world welterweight champion of all time at 46-years-old, breaking the record he actually set himself back in 2019 when he dethroned WBA welterweight champion Keith Thurman.
