The legendary Manny Pacquiao, at 46 years old, returned to the ring at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, facing WBC welterweight champion Mario Barrios in a fight that ended in a majority draw.
Two judges declared a tie with scores of 114-114, while the third judge gave a score of 115-113 in favor of Barrios.
Pacquiao, who started as the underdog, was looking to become the oldest boxer to win a world welterweight title, a record he had already established by defeating Keith Thurman by split decision in July 2019, at the age of 40. The only boxing champion in eight divisions, Pacquiao, had suffered his last defeat by unanimous decision against Yordenis Ugas in August 2021, when he was 42 years old. In that fight, Ugas outperformed Pacquiao in total punches (151-130), jab punches (50-42) and power punches (101-88). Barrios, 16 years younger than Pacquiao, won the WBC interim belt by defeating Ugas by unanimous decision in September 2023. He made one defense before being promoted to full titleholder when Terence Crawford vacated the belt to move up in weight. He retained the title in a split draw against Abel Ramos on the Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson undercard last November.Barrios’ two losses came against Gervonta “Tank” Davis in 2021 and Thurman in 2022. Davis, a southpaw like Pacquiao, knocked Barrios down twice in their fight and stopped him in the eleventh round.
On the same card, Sebastian Fundora defended his WBC super welterweight world title with a technical knockout victory over Tim Tszyu in a rematch. Fundora had defeated Tszyu by split decision in their first encounter in March 2024.
Earlier in the day, Oleksandr Usyk defeated Daniel Dubois by knockout in the fifth round at Wembley Stadium in London to regain the undisputed heavyweight championship. Andreas Hale was in Las Vegas to provide comprehensive coverage of what happened at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, including the results of the preliminary fights, updates, and analysis.
