Pacquiao guarantees boxing fans with action-packed fight vs Barrios

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

After two months of intensive training camp at the Wild Card Boxing Gym in Los Angeles, the fighting pride of the Philippines, Manny Pacquiao, is now ready to take center stage with only two days remaining before his blockbuster fight against Mario Barrios kicks off.

The two boxing stars finally met during an official press conference on July 17, 2025, with fans and the media hyping them up for their first official face-off.

Boxing’s only eight-division world champion will attempt to snatch Barrios’ World Boxing Council (WBC) welterweight championship belt, but the odds are stacked against him after coming out of retirement.

Pacquiao is now 46 years old and has been away from professional boxing for four years, a thing that most experts in the sport are most worried about.

However, Pacquiao commented: “It’s been a while. Four years. But I’m still active in terms of exercise and training. The fans might worry about my conditioning, and that’s what I need to prove.”

The Pacman is seeking to become the oldest WBC welterweight champion, but standing in his way is Barrios who is still in his prime and is younger by 16 years.

In his previous fights, Barrios showed vast improvement in his head movement and patience, a far better approach to what he was used to doing when he fought Gervonta Davis four years ago.

Barrios started off as a brawler, a type of fighter to press the action and put pressure on the opposition, but evolved into a great counterpuncher that made him even more efficient as a multi-dimensional boxer.

“I’m pretty sure that this coming Saturday, there will be a lot of action and the fans will be happy. And that is my goal, to make the fans satisfied. I know Barrios, he’s a champion also, and he works hard,” Pacquiao added.

Before the Pacquiao-Barrios main event, fight fans will be treated with several undercard showdowns including the rematch between Sebastian Fundora and Tim Tszyu, Isaac Cruz vs Angel Fierro, and Brandon Figueroa vs Joet Gonzalez.