Pacquiao-Barrios title fight ends in controversial majority draw

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

Fight fans, did you agree with that decision?

After 12 rounds of slugfest, the outcome of the highly-anticipated World Boxing Council (WBC) welterweight showdown between Manny Pacquiao and Mario Barrios resulted in a majority draw decision, with the first judge scoring the bout in favor of the title holder while the other two had it even in the scorecards.

The majority of the sport’s iconic figures disagreed and boldly said that Pacquiao should’ve won the fight with at least an 8-4 round advantage, while the others claimed that a draw was just fair enough to create a build-up for a rematch.

Seeking to defy the odds with Father Time on his side, boxing’s pride of the Philippines and the only eight-division world champion injected some water from the fountain of youth and shocked the thousands in attendance at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, on July 20, 2025.

Even at the age of 46, Pacquiao turned back the hands of time and showcased his signature speed, aggressiveness, ring generalship, and killer instinct.

Pacquiao stunned Barrios as early as the opening round after immediately connecting with a sweet left hook, followed by a barrage of three more punches that set the tone for the challenger.

Surprised by the flurry and speed that he received, Barrios chose to play safe and reacted with counter right jabs that snapped Pacquiao’s jaw after every heavy combination.

Pacquiao continued to connect with his 1-2 jab-straight combination in the following round, but Barrios just unlocked the perfect game pattern that cracked the Filipino’s rhythm from round three to round six.

Barrios became more disciplined with his approach and bullied Pacquiao with his efficient right jabs that landed at will to his head. No matter how the former champion used his head movement to spin away to his right shoulder, the current WBC welterweight king seemed to study his assignment and hit him with three calculated left uppercuts before he could even establish his right foot going forward.

This sequence went on until the sixth round, and the Pacquiao corner headed by coach Freddie Roach devised a game plan that helped his fighter cut the distance and negate Barrios’ reach advantage.

The plan was simple.

“Hey son, quick burst with a step. Throw your five-punch combo, and you know we will be alright.”

Those were the only corner instructions that Roach told Pacquiao. Plain and straightforward, and all that the legendary coach wanted his ward to do was to attack quickly and not wait for Barrios to establish his defensive stance.

With Pacquiao waiting from a distance and not finding ways to cut the angles, Barrios was able to hit him with a flurry of jabs, the reason why he went ahead in the scorecards after racking rounds three to six.

Come the seventh, Pacquiao turned words into action and brawled his way to Barrios’ unsafe space, unleashing back-to-back five-punch combinations that always ended with a clean hit using his left hook.

Pacquiao crawled his way back into the fight, as the 46-year-old living legend put the crowd on their feet after pulling off a consistent outing until the 10th round.

He was back like he never left. It was crazy to see how Pacquiao was able to size Barrios up and locate difficult openings to land his jabs. Aside from that, his stamina improved as the rounds went on.

Unfortunately, Barrios did more serious damage in the final two rounds as he snapped Pacquiao several times with wild uppercuts during their short-distance exchanges.

Barrios also landed more in the efficiency jab count and thought that he could jab his way out to a victory. When the judges’ decision was announced, everyone at the MGM Grand threw loud boos as they couldn’t believe that it ended in a majority draw decision.

“I thought I won the fight. It was a close fight. My opponent was very tough. Barrios is a wonderful fighter,” said Pacquiao after his first pro fight in four years.

When both fighters were asked if they were willing to run it back and set up a second fight, Barrios and Pacquiao had no second thoughts and are seeking an immediate rematch.

What do you think, fight fans?