Manny Pacquiao fought for his first world title in 1998, and will compete for what could potentially be his last in 2025.
30 years after making his professional debut, Pacquiao will take on Mario Barrios in the hopes of becoming one of boxing’s oldest-ever champions.
‘Pac-Man’ will aim to put his experience to good use when he takes on the welterweight champion, as Pacquiao returns to the ring as a professional.
Winning headline fights has by no means been a problem for the former eight-division champion. In 2006, Pacquiao was able to impress in his home nation with a stellar performance.
Manny Pacquiao dominated Oscar Larios in 2006 meeting in the Philippines
After Pacquiao’s rematch win over Erik Morales, the Filipino fighter returned to his home nation to compete in a headline bout.
Fighting on July 2nd, 2006, Pacquiao faced another Mexican in Oscar Larios in Quezon City.
‘Chololo’ went into the fight with a record of 57-4-1, and was coming off a TKO loss to Israel Vasquez seven months prior. However, Larios was a two-time bantamweight champion, who was moving to super featherweight to face the legend.
Pacquiao’s record on fight night was 41-3-2, as he was making his 12th appearance in the Philippines since becoming a world champion.
When the pair fought in the Araneta Coliseum, it was Pacquiao who had the showcase performance.
Although many predicted an early finish for Pacquiao, it was a decision win in the Philippines for the fighter. Despite scoring knockdowns in the seventh and 12th rounds, the Mexican would survive to hear the final bell.
The judges all scored the bout by wide margins for Pacquiao, as the final tallies read 117-110, 120-106, and 118-108.
Larios would fight nine more times after his fight with Pacquiao, which included winning the WBC World Featherweight title.
Manny Pacquiao followed Larios win with Erik Morales trilogy bout
Following his win over Larios, Pacquiao would close out his trilogy with Morales.
As the fighters had one win apiece, they had their third and final match in November 2006 in Las Vegas.
With an emphatic victory, Pacquiao was able to make it back-to-back stoppage wins over the Mexican. A third-round knockout would end the night for the super featherweights, as Pacquiao improved his record to 43-3-2.
Despite Morales winning the first fight in 2005 via unanimous decision, it was Pacquiao who could boast bragging rights as he won the series with two wins to one.