Manny Pacquiao’s next fight has now been announced as he will face Mario Barrios in his first fight in four years.
Manny Pacquiao has somehow earned a world title shot against Mario Barrios despite having just one win in six years.
Pac-Man, a legend of the sport, hung up the gloves in 2019, but returned in 2021 to make a bid for the world titles again against Errol Spence Jr. Spence withdrew from the Pacquiao fight, and was replaced by Yordenis Ugas, who beat Terence Crawford as an amateur.
Ugas spoiled Pacquiao’s comeback, handing him his eighth loss, by unanimous decision.
Manny Pacquiao’s only win in six years came against Keith Thurman, who beat Mario Barrios
Pacquiao, who shared training footage recently, retired in 2019 after making history with a win over Keith Thurman in Las Vegas.
He beat Thurman by split decision, and became the oldest welterweight world champion at the age of 40. He also joined George Foreman as the only other boxer to capture world titles 20 years apart.
The loss is the only one of Thurman’s career. Thurman took three years off of boxing after the loss to Pacquiao, who has one KO in 16 years, but returned in 2022 and won a clear decision of Mario Barrios.
Thurman, who Pacquiao named a dog after, was inactive after that but returned against Brock Jarvis. Barrios, meanwhile, went on to beat Ugas to claim the interim title, and has since become the full world champion.
Mario Barrios has been dropped by two men, including Gervonta Davis
In 2021, Barrios took his first loss when he faced Gervonta Davis. Davis stopped Barrios in the eleventh round after knocking him down three times beforehand.
Years later, in his latest fight, Barrios was dropped by 28-6-2 Abel Ramos in a poor performance that ended in a split decision draw for the world champion.
Barrios dropped Ramos in round two, but Ramos became the second man to drop Barrios in round six.
Barrios had been mentioned as a target for Conor Benn, but this will have to wait.