WBC Ranks Pacquiao as No. 5 Welterweight Despite 4-Year Hiatus

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

The World Boxing Council (WBC) released its latest welterweight ranking ahead of the highly anticipated Manny Pacquiao-Mario Barrios clash, which will take place on July 19, 2025, in Las Vegas.

Despite being out for four years in the professional boxing scene since announcing retirement, Pacquiao, the sport’s only eight-division world champion, was slotted as the world no. 5 ranked welterweight by the WBC.

At 46 years old without registering a single boxing win since 2019, Pacquiao’s No. 5 ranking was questioned by some active fighters and boxing experts. Still, the WBC stood firm with its decision and is already looking forward to his official return.

Coming in as WBC’s No. 1 welterweight fighter is Devin Haney, followed by Souleymane Cissokho, Conor Benn, and Egidijus Kavaliauskas.

The top five fighters that Pacquiao surpassed in the WBC rankings are: Raul Curiel, Thulani Mbenge, Eimantas Stanionis, Abel Ramos, and Alexis Rocha.

On May 9, 2025, Pacquiao stunned the whole boxing world after reports confirmed that he would be coming out of retirement to challenge Barrios for the WBC welterweight championship belt.

Last year, Sean Gibbons, the president of the Manny Pacquiao (MP) Promotions, lured Barrios to a possible title fight but the latter’s camp took the other route when they chose Abel Ramos as their opponent.

Since that initial negotiation, the WBC already provided their support and approved the fight, but Barrios’ disinterest stalled MP Promotions’ plans of inserting Pacquiao in the boxing scene once again.

Persistent and eager to make the fight happen once again, MP Promotions finally arranged the much-needed proposal that caused Barrios to mark the green check and approve the paperwork.

Since taking down Keith Thurman last 2019, Pacquiao has yet to clinch a professional boxing win, losing his last fight against Yordenis Ugas which led to his decision to retire from the sport.

Can Pacquiao deliver the performance that his fans expect from him? Or will Barrios prove that youth prevails over experience this time?