Manny Pacquiao vs Mario Barrios: Five iconic boxing comebacks

Independent

22-07-2025

Boxing is a sport where youth and activity are among the most valuable commodities for any fighter. When either or both of these begin to fade, a fighter will often choose to call it a day and retire. That is how it should go.
But some fighters, even when they have been retired or injured, cannot keep themselves away from the ring and make a comeback against all odds and advice – shocking the world by also finding success.
Manny Pacquiao is making his return after a four-year retirement to challenge Mario Barrios for his WBC welterweight world title on Saturday night. He will be hoping to dust off the cobwebs and prove critics wrong, just as a select group of fighters have done before him.
Here are five fighters who upset the odds to make highly successful comebacks.
Sugar Ray Leonard
Sugar Ray Leonard had retired in 1982 after gruelling wars with Roberto Duran and Tommy Hearns. He claimed he had lost his passion for the sport and wanted to complete his education.
He returned in 1984 and beat Kevin Howard, but was so dissatisfied with his performance, he retired immediately after.
Marvin Hagler beat John Mugabi in Las Vegas in 1986, and Leonard was in the audience. The former welterweight champion had seen all he needed to see and was sure he could beat Hagler, whom he was convinced had lost a step.
The fight was made between the pair for April 6, 1987. Before the clash, a poll of sports journalists was taken and 46 out of 50 favoured Hagler for the fight, believing the naturally bigger and more destructive man would prevail. Leonard had also been inactive for three years at this point.
Leonard pulled off an incredible upset, beating Marvin Hagler by split decision to claim his WBC middleweight title. Sugar Ray frustrated Hagler, using the larger ring to keep at range, peppering him with jabs and then landing 30-second flurries at the end of every round.
Leonard would continue to box until 1991, picking up a second world title in his comeback by beating Donny Lalonde and taking his WBC light heavyweight title.
He ended this comeback after a loss to Terry Norris in 1991.
George Foreman
The late, great George Foreman decided to leave boxing in 1977 after a knockout loss to Jimmy Young.
Foreman stopped fighting and became a minister in his hometown. But Foreman had ambitions of becoming a two-time heavyweight champion, and after a decade out of the sport, returned to the ring - hunting a world title.
In a 30-fight comeback, Foreman beat Hall of Famer Dwight Muhammad Qawi and put in good performances against Evander Holyfield and Tommy Morrison for a world title, but fell short on both occasions.
The culmination of a seven-year comeback came in 1994 against Michael Moorer.
Foreman was behind on all three judges' scorecards when Moorer hesitated a moment too long in front of one of the heaviest hitters the heavyweight division has ever seen and was felled by 'Big George', who claimed the IBF and WBA heavyweight titles at the age of 45. This remains the record for the oldest heavyweight world champion.
'The greatest' had established himself as the best heavyweight in the world by 1967, having won the world title at 22 years old and beaten the best of the previous generation – Sonny Liston, Henry Cooper and Floyd Patterson.
After 10 successful defences of his world title, Ali ran into legal troubles for refusing to be enlisted into the United States Army. This led to a state-by-state removal of his boxing licenses, which meant he would not fight again for another three years.
Ali also officially retired at the beginning of 1970, so the winner of Joe Frazier vs Jimmy Ellie could be considered the undisputed champion.
The former champion returned at the end of 1970 and across four years put together an impressive 15 wins and only two losses – to Joe Frazier and Ken Norton, both of which he avenged.
The culmination of this comeback came in 1974, just a few months after Ali had got his revenge on Frazier, when he challenged George Foreman for his WBC title in 'The Rumble in the Jungle'.
Ali let Foreman tire himself out like a raging bull, playing rope-a-dope and using an educated right hand to sting the champion.
In the eighth round, a gassed Foreman was knocked out by Ali, who began his second reign as world heavyweight champion.
Vitali Klitschko
Having claimed the WBO heavyweight title in 1999, it looked as though Vitali Klitschko was in for a long reign as champion, comfortably defending his title twice before succumbing to a torn rotator cuff in his third defence against Chris Byrd – forcing him to retire and forfeit his belt.
His body failed him again against Lennox Lewis, when he was ahead on all three scorecards, a cut opened by Lewis forced the fight to be stopped in the sixth round.
The final straw came in training camp in 2004 for the third defence of his recently acquired WBC strap against Hasim Rahman. Klitshcko suffered a torn ACL and announced his retirement before his reconstructive surgery.
But as Vitali had to watch his brother Wladimir dominate the heavyweight division, becoming a unified champion, he could not resist the magnetism of his dream of holding a world title simultaneously with his younger brother.
In 2008, he took advantage of his 'Champion Emeritus' status given to him by the WBC, which meant that if he ever came back, he would be the mandatory challenger for the title.
Klitschko took on the hard-hitting Samuel Peter, who had lost to his brother a few years earlier.
The fight, despite Klitschko not having fought in four years, was a foregone conclusion after the first round, and he won every round before Peter gave up on his stool at the end of the eighth.
Klitschko defended his WBC belt nine times between 2008 and 2012 and retired at the top of the sport as he had always wanted to do.
Tyson Fury
Tyson Fury had climbed the most unlikely of peaks, defeating the most dominant champion of his generation, Wladimir Klitschko, in 2015.
But this achievement of a lifelong dream left Fury without purpose and drive, which pushed him down a dark path of addiction and mental health struggles for three years.
The Brit gained a huge amount of weight, reaching almost 400lbs, and finally realised after three years that he needed to get back into the ring.
His target was Deontay Wilder, the WBC heavyweight champion. After two comeback fights, the former unified champion was ready to take on the heaviest hitter in the division.
The pair fought to a dramatic draw, with Fury mostly outboxing Wilder but getting dropped twice for his trouble, which will have swayed the judges.
Fury would not make the same mistake twice and did not leave their rematch to the judges, stopping Wilder in the seventh round in a dominating performance.
Reclaiming his place at the top of the division, Fury made one of the most unlikely comebacks this sport has ever seen and punctuated it by knocking out Wilder again in their trilogy fight.