Mario Barrios will face a legend in Manny Pacquiao in a defense of his WBC welterweight world title.
July 19th will be 2025’s biggest night of boxing as Daniel Dubois vs Oleksandr Usyk and Manny Pacquiao vs Mario Barrios will both take place on the same night, with Lawrence Okolie vs Kevin Lerena and Tim Tszyu vs Sebastian Fundora 2 featuring as the co-mains for each event.
Barrios will seek to prove youth triumphs experience as he takes on Pacquiao, who began boxing months before Barrios was even born.
Barrios secured the interim world title with a win over Yordenis Ugas, but his career has not been without controversy, especially after one fight in 2019.
Mario Barrios scored a premature stoppage win over Richard Zamora
In 2019, 22-0 Barrios faced 19-2 Richard Zamora on the undercard of Barrios’ future opponent Gervonta Davis, who knocked Barrios out in 2021.
Zamora had lost just once in the six years before his fight with Barrios to Antonio Moran.
Barrios won the first three rounds before stunning Zamora in the fourth. As a slightly rocked Zamora backed up, Barrios unloaded more shots on him, prompting the referee to wave the fight off with Zamora still on his feet.
Many fans thought Zamora still looked game despite losing the brief exchange, and that the stoppage was premature.
He won, and, after a second-round KO in his next fight, Barrios faced Batyr Akhmedov in a life-or-death war which ended in a win for Barrios, who was hospitalized after urinating blood after the fight.
Mario Barrios vs Manny Pacquiao – The Stats
Ahead of their fight, here are a few stats that show whether Pacquiao’s experience and legendary career will triumph, or Barrios’ youth will conquer.
| Manny Pacquiao | Mario Barrios | |
| Boxing record | 62-8-2 | 29-2-1 |
| Weight (in last fight), Height, Reach, Age | 146lbs, 5’5.5″, 67″, 46 | 146.75lbs, 6’0″, 71″, 30 |
| KO % (of all fights) | 54% | 56% |
| Best wins | Ricky Hatton, Oscar De La Hoya, Miguel Cotto | Yordenis Ugas, Fabian Maidana |
| Common opponents (and how they fared against them) | Keith Thurman (2019 – W-SD) Yordenis Ugas (2021 – L-UD) | Keith Thurman (2022 – L-UD) Yordenis Ugas (2023 – W-UD) |