Paulie Malignaggi has shared his thoughts on Manny Pacquiao‘s return to boxing.
The 46-year-old Filipino great will challenge reigning WBC world welterweight champion Mario Barrios on Saturday July 19 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Pacquiao announced his retirement from the sport back in 2021, just a few months after he was defeated by former WBA world welterweight champion Yordenis Ugas in what was an underwhelming performance.
At the peak of his career, ‘PacMan’ was one of the very best fighters on the planet, defeating a number of highly rated opponents including two-weight world champion Paulie Malignaggi.
In an interview with Fight Hype, Malignaggi shared an insights into what sort of physical condition Pacquiao needs to be in on fight night for him to be victorious, but goes on to claim that Barrios ‘sucks’ in a scathing message.
“Manny had 70 plus pro fights and he wasn’t a defensive specialist, a lot of impact, a lot of back and forth impact, he’s 46 you know he had a lot of heavy wear-and-tear into his late thirties and early forties so how are his legs gonna be?
“That’s my biggest thing because I think Manny was a range changing fighter, he was that style in-and-out, you know there’s in-and-out fighters and there’s like pocket head mover guys, and sometimes you can mix the two but rarely, usually it’s one or the other, but Manny’s an in-and-out guy, and an in-and-out guy needs his legs, he needs his legs the whole fight you know, unless he lands something big. I will say I think Mario Barrios sucks, I think he sucks … He eats every shot … I do think it’s a risk [for Pacquiao], I thought he looked really bad in that last exhibition.”
A victory for Pacquiao would see the 46-year-old become the oldest world welterweight champion of all time, breaking the record that he actually set himself 6-years-ago when he defeated Keith Thurman to capture the WBA welterweight crown at 40-years-old.
