Manny Pacquiao vs. Mario Barrios: A Quick Cash Grab Targeting Suckers

Much of the boxing world winced collectively back in June when the idea of a Manny Pacquiao-Mario Barrios fight was first brought up.

Surely, this was just a headline-grabber used to hype Pacquiao’s exhibition fight the following month. Because, seriously, the 45-year-old future first ballot Hall of Famer shouldn’t be back in the real boxing mix anymore.

Retired for three years already, the Filipino icon looked awful in his last real fight, a decisive unanimous decision loss to Cuba’s Yordenis Ugas in August of 2021. Two years before that, though, he did defy the odds by decisioning Keith Thurman for the WBA welterweight title. Two years.

For those doing the math, that would mean that Pacquiao is now five years removed from his last win and his last decent performance.

Hell, the multi-division former world champ hasn’t even looked good in his exhibitions.

Pacquiao Looked Awful

Last month, Pacquiao looked slow and sluggish against kickboxer Rukiya Anpo in a three-round exhibition at the Saitama Super Arena in Japan. The poor showing inspired the following fight report from this writer:

“For much of his three-round exhibition bout Sunday at the Saitama Super Arena in Japan, Manny Pacquiao looked like the befuddled B-side and kickboxer Rukiya Anpo looked like the boxing legend playing with his opponent…

…Simply put, the 45-year-old Pacquiao has no business fighting anymore…

The 28-year-old Anpo, a former K-1 champion with a nearly 7-inch height advantage, looked infinitely fresher than his 17-year-older opponent and landed crisper punches throughout the contest.

A sluggish Pacquiao, who got tagged in the first round, gave way to a more animated Pacquiao in the second. But that spirit only served to get the Filipino icon tagged again by Anpo. Although the former multi-division world champ had some brief positive moments, he just could never get inside to cause any real damage to his taller, quicker, younger opponent.

In the third round, Pacquiao was actually buzzed by a couple of crisp shots by Anpo, who was now fighting with supreme confidence. Pacquiao would finish the third and final round with a spirited face-saving flurry of punches, but even through that final moment bluster, Anpo still landed the crisper, more effective punches.

If this were a bout with actual judges at ringside, Pacquiao would’ve lost all three rounds– two quite decisively. But, sans judges, the bout finished as a no-decision draw.”

One would think that such a poor showing on the world stage would’ve sobered Manny and his team on the idea of entertaining a return to the real ranks of high-end boxing.

It obviously didn’t.

Pacquiao-Barrios is a “For Real” Thing

In a report by Alan Dawson of World Boxing News, the proposed Pacquiao-Barrios bout, for Barrios’ WBC welterweight title, was not only back on the table, but in serious consideration for a slot on the Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) schedule in December.

“I made history at 40 beating Keith Thurman and I feel at 45, I have a lot left in the game as I haven’t taken a lot of punishment over the last few years,” Pacquiao told ESPN back in June. “I want to go out making history.”

But make no mistake about it, fighting Barrios is strategic matchmaking, picking on the perceived weakest reigning champ to sleight-of-hand Manny’s way to another belt and another wave of “Pacquiao is legendary” glory.

That’s intoxicating stuff. Plus, there’s the money.

Money Manny

There’ll be lots of money for Pacquiao, for his team, and for the event organizers, who can still bank on the Pacquiao brand as a money-making, market-tickling gimmick.

And where there’s money, there are facilitators/enablers.

“I like the idea very much,” WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman told Sky Sports in July. “I think Manny Pacquiao can beat any fighter or can be competitive with any fighter today.

“But to have him return to the WBC more than two decades after he won his first world championship, which was the WBC flyweight title, and then go all the way to welterweight in 2024 would be sensational.”

Sean Gibbons, Pacquiao’s long-time advisor and president of Pacquiao’s MP Promotions, has said that this “very winnable” Barrios bout would have to happen this year because Manny may run for office in the Philippines in 2025.

“Manny is like a fine bottle of wine and getting better and better as he ages,” Gibbons said about a week prior to Pacquiao’s poor exhibition showing. “He hasn’t lost his speed, power or passion. He loves to fight. If I didn’t think he could fight at the highest level, I would advise him against it and to do something else.”

Apparently, Gibbons still isn’t advising against a Pacquiao return to the ring.

Pacquiao vs. anybody is money. Pacquiao not fighting while he conceivably might be able to is like leaving money on the table. There are lots of people, Pacquiao included, who would like to pick from the money tree while that tree might still be able to bear fruit. And Pacquiao vs. Barrios is as favorable of a matchup Manny can find among the top players at 147.

But this fight doesn’t really do anything but shuffle some money into some pockets and waste time that could be devoted to building boxing’s future stars.

It’s possible that Pacquiao could win. But, so what? What then? Pacquiao moves on to unify against IBF champ Jaron “Boots” Ennis? Neither Pacquiao nor his team would take a fight like that in a million years. The most likely result of a Pacquiao victory would be a re-retirement and Barrios fighting someone else for the vacant belt next. It’s just a lot of wasted time, aimed entirely at making a quick monetary score at the expense of nostalgic fans (AKA “suckers”).

Yet another cynical money grab.

Pacquiao-Barrios is every bit as cynical as Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson or Floyd Mayweather vs. John Gotti III. Except neither of those other fluff fights are for world titles.