Manny Pacquiao will make his return to professional boxing on Saturday night, a remarkable 30 years after making his debut.
Taking on WBC World Welterweight champion Mario Barrios, Pacquiao is aiming to become one of the oldest champions in boxing history.
A win on Saturday night would make Pacquiao a world champion at the age of 46. However, ‘Pac-Man’ was just 19 years of age when he first became a world title holder.
In his first unification bout, things did not exactly go smoothly for Pacquiao.
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Manny Pacquiao was held to a technical decision draw against Agapito Sanchez
In June 2001, Pacquiao defeated Lehlohonolo Ledwaba via TKO to become a two-division champion. Now atop the super bantamweight division with the IBF title, ‘Pac-Man’ sought unification.
Due to this, Pacquiao was paired up with fellow super bantamweight champion Agapito Sanchez.
Sanchez had a professional record of 31-9-2, and was nine years older than Pacquiao on fight night at 31. The pair competed in their super bantamweight unification bout in San Francisco on the undercard of Floyd Mayweather vs Jesus Chavez.
The bout would be filled with notable moments, however, not for the right reasons.
In the second round, the fight would get its main disruption. At the very beginning of the round, Pacquiao and Sanchez would clash heads, resulting in a cut over the eye of the 22-year-old.
The doctor inspected the injury to Pacquiao immediately after it happened. However, it would go on to cause further problems for the IBF champion.
Rounds three and four would also have unfortunate, notable moments. Both rounds would see Sanchez on the receiving end of point deductions for continuous low blows.
In the sixth round, the fighters would trade their final blows. As the cut worsened over time for Pacquiao, the fighter was deemed unfit to continue.
As the competitors had completed six rounds in the bout, the judges’ scorecards could be used for a technical decision. Each fighter was ahead on one judges’ scorecard, with the third having the bout even at 56-56.
The scorecards meant that the technical decision was a split draw, as both men retained their titles.
Despite the lackluster ending to their San Francisco encounter, Pacquiao and Sanchez did not compete in a rematch.
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Manny Pacquiao went on a five-fight knockout streak following first career draw
Seven months after the first draw of his career, Pacquiao returned to the ring as his injury healed. Taking on Jorge Eliecer Julio, a second-round TKO would get the fighter from the Philippines back to winning ways.
The win would be the second defense of his IBF World Super Bantamweight title before retaining the belt for a third time in October 2002. Defeating Fahprakorb Rakkiatgym, it was successive stoppage wins for Pacquiao.
Further knockouts over Serikzhan Yeshmagambetov, Emmanuel Lucero, and Marco Antonio Barrera would then make it five stoppages in a row for Pacquiao.
Having moved to featherweight for his fight against Barrera, Pacquiao fought for the WBA and IBF titles in his next fight. Taking on Juan Manuel Marquez, the fight would end in a draw.
In what was the first of four fights with Marquez, Pacquiao could not dethrone the Mexican champion in their 2004 meeting.