Prior to July 19, 2025, the last time Manny Pacquiao boxed in a professional bout was in August 2021 where he lost surprisingly to Yordenis Ugas.
However, the Filipino icon returned to the ring to add on to his legendary status by battling away to a hard fought majority draw decision against Mario Barrios in a WBC Welterweight bout held at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas.
Despite being 16 years older than the 30 year old San Antonio native Barrios, Pacquiao showed remarkable endurance and sharpness to keep the fight close in several rounds.
Pacquiao had a fast start and easily won the first two rounds but Barrios picked up the subsequent two rounds by using his significant reach and height to land solid jabs from range.
However, Barrios’ level of activity dropped and allowed Pacquiao to regain momentum as the fight shifted to the second half that was characterized by occasional quick exchanges between the fighters.
In the end, what felt like Barrios doing enough to edge the win proved not enough as two judges scored the bout 114-114 while with another judge scoring the bout 115-113 in favour of Barrios.
Fans in the packed out arena booed the decision from the judges that meant that Barrios retained the WBC Welterweight belt.
Earlier on the night, Sebastian Fundora retained his WBC Super welterweight title via a technical knockout win over Australian Tim Tsyzu who failed to answer the bell ahead of the eighth round after another bruising contest from the pair.
Fundora won the first contest over Tsyzu via split decision.
