Manny Pacquiao came out of his four-year retirement to battle WBC welterweight champion Mario Barrios to an unpopular 12-round majority draw in their fight on Saturday night in Las Vegas.
Boxing Fans Disagree with Judges
Fans and fighters overwhelmingly disagreed with the judges’ decision. They felt that Pacquiao (62-8-3, 39 KOs) did enough to deserve the win over Barrios (29-2-2, 18 KOs). The scores were 114-114, 115-113 for Barrios and 114-114.
Pacquiao, 46, fought remarkably well, looking well-preserved for a fighter nearing 50. He finally showed his age down the stretch when he faded, allowing Barrios to rally to get the better of him to get the draw.
“Not enough jabs and not enough for everything from Barrios,” said Shawn Porter to the media, reacting to Pacquiao vs. Barrios’ fight results. “I don’t agree with the draw.”
Porter isn’t a judge, and obviously, he was a friend of Pacquiao’s from his days as his sparring partner. The judges got it right. If you go through the rounds to see which fighter did the better work, it comes out to six a piece. The only reason Pacquiao did as well as he did was that Barrios waited too long to start fighting aggressively. Once he did, he dominated.
“I don’t think y’all want to see Manny in with Floyd, do you?” said Porter. “I think the world, because it’s Manny Pacquiao, it has to be Floyd Mayweather.
Boxing’s Reputation at Stake
It would have made a joke of the sport if Pacquiao had captured the WBC welterweight title after coming out of a four-year retirement to get an immediate title shot.
He would then make boxing look bad by defending the WBC title against 48-year-old Floyd Mayweather Jr, who has been retired for eight years since 2017. Mayweather wouldn’t be ranked in the top 15, yet would jump in front of the contenders to get a world title shot. It would be a joke.
