Pacquiao Comes Out of Retirement to Challenge Barrios for Welterweight Belt

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

Yes, you read and heard it right.

Boxing’s only eight-division world champion, Manny Pacquiao, will come out of retirement and return to action in the professional scene, confirmed on May 9, 2025.

Two days ago, speculations of a Pacquiao comeback already went viral online but were verified on May 9, as per ESPN’s combat sports reporter Andreas Hale.

According to Hale, Pacquiao will square off against Mario Barrios, the current titleholder of the World Boxing Council (WBC) welterweight division.

Ring rust will certainly be an issue for the Filipino living legend, as his last bout inside a professional boxing ring was four years ago when he lost via unanimous decision to Yordenis Ugas.

After that fight, Pacquiao made an emotional retirement video on September 29, 2021, while announcing his intent to become more active in the political landscape of the Philippines.

Despite his retirement, Pacquiao continued to tease his fans with several exhibition bouts, first against South Korean YouTube star DK Yoo, in which he dominated in a lopsided affair.

Pacquiao proved that he still has the tools to continue fighting after nearly knocking down Yoo in the fourth round en route to a one-sided performance.

However, Pacquiao failed to notch the same result in his next exhibition fight against the younger and bigger Japanese kickboxing star Rukiya Anpo last July.

Anpo got the better hand in the first phase of the fight as he battered Pacquiao with his stiff and quick combinations while also exposing the slower pace that Pacman leaned on to survive the clash.

Despite recording more clean punches, Anpo didn’t get the win due to their exhibition ruling that a fighter will emerge victorious only if he can score a knockout.

Two months after the Anpo fight, Pacquiao’s camp, led by MP Promotions president Sean Gibbons, revealed that they were trying to lure Barrios into a possible title clash.

However, their negotiation talks took a hit when Barrios chose Abel Ramos as his next opponent.

The fight quickly materialized and became the co-main event of the Paul-Tyson clash presented by Netflix.

With the recent update, it seems that the Pacquiao camp was still persistent in targeting Barrios, resulting in a highly anticipated welterweight duel rumored to take place on July 19, 2025, in Las Vegas.

Can Pacquiao still deliver his usual high-octane approach?

Or will Barrios formally send the Pacman to Father Time and make him retire for the second time in his career?