'I'm back': Pacquiao coming out of retirement to face Barrios in title fight
Manny Pacquiao will come out of retirement to face Mario Barrios for the WBC welterweight championship on July 19 in Las Vegas, the 46-year-old Filipino boxer said on Wednesday.
Pacquiao is the only boxer to win world championships in a record eight weight divisions while he was also the oldest welterweight world champion in history at the age of 40 in 2019.
A Filipino senator from 2016 to 2022, Pacquiao had retired from boxing in 2021 while he also ran for president in 2022.
"I'm back. On July 19, I return to the ring to face WBC Welterweight Champion Mario Barrios at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Let's make history," Pacquiao wrote on Instagram.
The southpaw, who has 62 wins, eight losses and two draws in a 72-fight career, was also elected to the International Boxing Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2025.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CNA
2 hours ago
- CNA
Double Olympic champion Lomachenko announces retirement
Ukraine's double Olympic gold medallist and three-weight world champion Vasiliy Lomachenko announced his retirement from boxing on Thursday at the age of 37 and more than a year after his last fight. Lomachenko beat Australian George Kambosos Jr with an 11th round stoppage in Perth last May to claim the vacant IBF lightweight belt. The 2008 featherweight and 2012 lightweight Olympic champion wraps up his professional career with a record of 18 wins and three defeats, with 12 knockouts, after an amateur record of 396 wins and only one defeat. He was unified lightweight champion and also won world titles as a featherweight and super-featherweight. "I'm grateful for every victory and every defeat both in the ring and in life," Lomachenko said in a video message on social media.
Independent Singapore
a day ago
- Independent Singapore
Enhanced Games to embrace 'superhumanity' — World Aquatics to ban athletes who support pro-doping tournaments
World Aquatics recently announced that athletes, coaches, and officials who support sporting events that encourage performance-enhancing drugs would not be allowed to compete at elite-level competitions from now on. Particularly, this decision aims toward the Enhanced Games, an event that openly embraces the usage of scientific and pharmaceutical enhancements for athletes. Husain al-Musallam, the organization's president, expressed: 'Those who enable doped sport are not welcome at World Aquatics or our events.' Furthermore, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) also warned that the Enhanced Games 'jeopardizes athletes' health and well-being' by encouraging the misuse of powerful substances and promoting methods that 'should only be prescribed, if at all, for specific therapeutic needs'. All about the Enhanced Games The Enhanced Games is an Olympic-style competition that is privately funded, and it was scheduled to happen in Las Vegas next May. This tournament allows the use of banned substances under the international anti-doping regulations. In this event, athletes will not be subjected to drug testing, and they may use customized pharmaceutical plans and programs, given that their usage is disclosed to event organizers. They also have an option to take part in clinical trials involving FDA-designated 'Investigational Medicinal Products.' This event will be launched on May 21-24, 2026, and it will include sporting events such as sprinting, swimming, and weightlifting. Moreover, organizers said that a prize money of up to $500,000 per event, with $1 million bonuses, will be offered for world records in the 100m sprint and 50m freestyle. Athletes like Australian swimmer and three-time Olympic medalist James Magnussen have committed to participating in the event so far. Aron D'Souza, the event's founder, promoted the Enhanced Games as a platform to embrace 'superhumanity', and a future where pharmaceutical and technological enhancements are normalized. Moreover, D'Souza stated that the anti-doping policy is 'outdated and hypocritical', and said that the Enhanced Games will provide a safer and more transparent alternative for athletes. See also The unwavering spirit of discus legend James Wong In a social media post, the organizers of the Enhanced Games shared: ' 🇺🇸 LAS VEGAS 2026… The first Enhanced Games are coming to Las Vegas in May 2026… World-class athletes in athletics, aquatics, and strength will compete to break records, win prizes of up to a million dollars, and redefine the limits of human performance.' Some netizens are in favor of this new event and shared their support in the comments section: 'Looking forward to this', '🔥 this is going to be epic', 'I'm definitely going to be there. 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥💲💲💲💲', 'this is what I was talking about', and 'This is incredible. Who needs program support? 🔥'
Straits Times
2 days ago
- Straits Times
‘Rested' Manny Pacquiao relishing boxing comeback at 46
Manny Pacquiao speaks prior to his WBC welterweight fight versus Mario Barrios at The NOVO at L.A. PHOTO: AFP LOS ANGELES – Manny Pacquiao on June 3 shrugged off concerns about his decision to return to boxing at the age of 46, as he prepares for his world welterweight title comeback against Mario Barrios in July. The charismatic Filipino boxing icon stunned the sports world in May after announcing he would take on World Boxing Council (WBC) champion Barrios on July 19 in Las Vegas, four years after his last fight ended in a disappointing defeat. Pacquiao, who won 12 world titles in eight different weight classes during a glittering professional career that began in 1995, told reporters that the glamour of championship boxing had prompted his return. 'I'm returning because I miss my boxing,' he said at a press conference in Los Angeles. 'Especially these situations – being interviewed, press conference, training camp, everything like that. 'I missed that. But it has been good for me – I've rested my body for four years. And now I come back.' Pacquiao also said that he had been left devastated following his decision to retire in the wake of his loss to Yordenis Ugas in 2021. 'I always thought, even when I hung up my gloves, 'I can still fight, I can still feel my body, I can still work hard',' he added. 'That moment when I announced hanging up my gloves four years ago – I was so sad. I was crying, I cannot stop the tears coming out my eyes.' Some in boxing have expressed concerns about whether Pacquiao's comeback against Barrios, who is 16 years his junior, represents a risk to the Filipino's safety. Addressing those concerns, he noted that his family and loved ones were firmly behind his comeback. 'The people who really concern me, is my family,' he said. 'My family saw how I move, saw how I train, saw my body condition. They support me because they can see the old Pacquiao style.' Pacquiao is able to challenge immediately for a title due to a WBC rule that allows former champions to request a title fight when coming out of retirement. WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman said that Pacquiao had been cleared to return to the ring by the Nevada Athletic Commission after undergoing medical exams, describing the fighter's comeback as 'low risk'. Barrios said he would set aside the Filipino's status as one of the most beloved fighters of his era. 'There's nothing but good things to say about him outside the ring,' he said. 'He's a hard guy to dislike. But at the end of the day, you know it's kill or be killed. 'So I just have to go in there and make sure that my hand is raised at the end of the fight.' In other boxing news, World Boxing has apologised after Imane Khelif was named in its announcement on mandatory sex testing for all boxers in its competitions, saying the Paris Olympics gold medallist's privacy should have been protected. The global body, which will oversee boxing competitions in the 2028 Olympics, made the announcement last week, less than a year after Khelif won gold in Paris amid a gender-eligibility row. The announcement specifically said the body had sent a letter to the Algerian Boxing Federation saying Khelif 'may not participate in the female category' of any World Boxing event until she undergoes the test. However, a source said World Boxing president Boris van der Vorst had personally written to Algerian Boxing Federation president Abdelkader Abbas to apologise for including Khelif's name. AFP, REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
