And just like that, Manny Pacquiao is back in the upper echelon of the WBC welterweight rankings. The organisation’s new rankings have been released, and fight fans may be surprised to see 46 year old Pacquiao – who has not won a fight since 2019, and has not fought at all in four years – slotted in at the number 5 position.
Pacquiao leaps the line—WBC gives him top 5 status without a fight
This of course comes a little under two months before Pac-Man will challenge reigning WBC welterweight champion Mario Barrios. The fight, and the blessing it has been given by the folks at the WBC, has generated plenty of negativity, with people concerned about the health and well-being of Pacquiao, currently 62-8-2(39).
Now, just after WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman’s official statement in which he defends his organisation’s willingness to sanction the July 19 fight (with Sulaiman managing to make a quite ludicrous comparison between the Barrios-Pacquiao fight and the Sugar Ray Leonard-Marvelous Marvin Hagler fight from 1987) – come the new WBC rankings and Pacquiao’s lofty, and wholly undeserved position at number 5.
It’s simply not fair that Manny, as much as we all love him and admire him, has leapfrogged all the other active, hard-working welterweight fighters the way he has done. It’s just about impossible to look at this move by the WBC as anything other than a hugely cynical one.
Betting odds drop—and Pacquiao’s age is the headline
As of right now, though the fight is absolutely expected to take place, Barrios-Pacquiao is not yet 100 percent official. A press conference is set for May 20 in Los Angeles. This is when the fight is expected to be confirmed. And now, with his high ranking by the WBC, Pacquiao is, on paper at least, qualified to challenge for the world title.
Meanwhile, betting odds for the July 19 fight have been released, and to no great surprise Barrios, 29-2-1(18) is a significant favourite to win. SportsBetting.ag has posted the following odds:
Barrios is -500, while Pacquiao is +340.
These are pretty steep odds in favour of 29 year old Barrios of San Antonio, who most people feel will simply be too young, too strong, and too aggressive for the 46 year old great from the Philippines.