Manny Pacquiao’s attempt to turn back the clock came up just short on Saturday night as his fight with WBC welterweight champion Mario Barrios ended in a majority draw.
At 46 years old, Pacquiao was attempting to become the first fighter in history to win world championships in four different decades. But Pacquiao didn’t look like the fighter of old. He was less explosive and his defensive reflexes were clearly diminished, but Barrios didn’t make him pay over 12 rounds and let Pacquiao have some impressive moments throughout the fight.
Barrios was effective in working his jab throughout the fight, but he did not follow that jab with power shots, nor did he invest much to the body of his much older opponent, who was returning to action for the first time in nearly four years.
The solidly Pacquiao crowd loudly reacted to every combination Pacquiao threw, whether it landed or not. Despite that possible overreaction, Pacquiao did show phenomenal endurance and commitment to attempting to hold a world championship once again.
In the end, it took Barrios winning the final three rounds on all three official scorecards to edge his way into a majority draw to retain his championship by scores of 115-113 his way, and two 114-114 cards.
“I thought I won the fight,” Pacquiao said after the fight. “I mean, it was a close fight. My opponent was very tough. It was a wonderful fight. It was good.”
Barrios also felt he had done enough to win, though he praised his legendary opponent’s effort.
“I thought I still pulled it out, but I still tip my hat to Manny,” Barrios said. “It was an absolute honor to share the ring with him, someone who has accomplished so much in the sport. … We came in here and left everything in the ring. Like I said, I tip my hat to Manny.”
Both fighters agreed to the idea of a rematch, leaving the door open for Pacquiao, an eight-division world champion, to take another shot at regaining world championship glory.
“I think so, I think so,” Pacquiao said of the idea of fighting again. “God willing. I only had two months of training. What I need to do is continue my training. In a championship fight like this, I should have trained for four months or three months, [but didn’t] because of the election in the Philippines.”
Barrios was fully on board with the idea of running the fight back, noting how big the event was for the sport.
“Absolutely [I would take the rematch], this was huge for boxing,” Barrios said. “This was huge, and I’d love to do it again.”
CBS Sports was with you throughout the entire way on Saturday.
Pacquiao vs. Barrios fight card, results
- Mario Barrios (c) vs. Manny Pacquiao ends in majority draw (115-113 Barrios, 114-114, 114-114)
- Sebastian Fundora (c) def. Tim Tszyu via seventh-round TKO (corner stoppage)
- Isaac Cruz def. Omar Salcido via unanimous decision (99-89, 99-89, 100-88)
- Brandon Figueroa def. Joet Gonzalez via unanimous decision (115-113, 116-112, 116-112)
- David Picasso def. Kyonosuke Kameda via majority decision (98-92, 97-93, 95-95)
- Mark Magsayo def. Jorge Mata via unanimous decision (100-90, 100-90, 98-92)
- Gary Allen Russell Jr. def. Hugo Castaneda via 10th-round TKO
