'Rested' Pacquiao relishing boxing comeback at 46
The charismatic Filipino boxing icon stunned the sports world last month 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 on Tuesday that the glamour of championship boxing had prompted his return.
"I'm returning because I miss my boxing," Pacquiao 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 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,'" Pacquiao said.
"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."
Pacquiao, though, revealed that working out at his home in the Philippines persuaded him he still had the fitness and strength to fight.
"I realized when I'm playing basketball, training at the gym my house -- I have complete sport facilities in my house -- that I still have that passion. I still have that speed and power," he said.
'Low-risk' comeback
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, Pacquiao noted that his family and loved ones were firmly behind his comeback.
"I'm thankful for them for their concern," Pacquiao told AFP. "But the people who really concern me, is my family. My family saw how I move, saw how I train, saw my my body condition. They support me because they can see the old Pacquiao style."
Pacquiao, who has reunited with veteran trainer Freddie Roach for next month's fight, 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 told AFP on Tuesday 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".
"Manny Pacquiao is at no higher risk than any fighter going into the ring," Sulaiman said. "Manny has rested his body for four years. He's not a drinker. He's not a drug user. He's a family man that has taken care of himself. So of the different aspects of dangers, he's at the lowest risk."
Pacquiao's opponent, 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," Barrios said of Pacquiao. "He's a hard guy to dislike. But at the end of the day, you know it's kill or be killed.
"And I know if at any point he has me hurt, you know he's going to get me out of there. So I just have to go in there and make sure that my hand is raised at the end of the fight."
© 2025 AFP
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
France 24
7 hours ago
- France 24
Uzbekistan coach says historic World Cup spot for 'our entire people'
A 0-0 draw at the United Arab Emirates on Thursday was enough to seal the landmark with a game to go in Asian qualifying for the 2026 World Cup in North America. The expansion of the tournament from 32 to 48 teams has given traditional outsiders such as Uzbekistan the chance to break into the top ranks of world football. "We have come a long way and achieved an important result," their coach Timur Kapadze said, according to the Asian Football Confederation. "We congratulate our entire people and our president. This victory belongs to all of us. "Yesterday and today the phone calls have not stopped." Uzbekistan started competing as an independent nation in the 1990s, following the collapse of the Soviet Union. Backed by state funding, Uzbekistan are one of Asia's fastest-developing footballing nations. They are ranked 57th in the world. "Everyone said they would support us and pray for us, the wishes for victory were a great inspiration for us," said Kapadze, who replaced Srecko Katanec as head coach in January. "My players showed determination in every game, they did their best, and that is why we achieved the result." Footage shared on social media showed the players, draped in national flags, mobbing Kapadze in the press room after getting the point they needed. Uzbekistan are second behind also qualified Iran in Group A with five wins, three draws and one defeat. They play their final qualifier on Tuesday home to Qatar in the capital Tashkent. © 2025 AFP
France 24
12 hours ago
- France 24
Studio Ghibli marks 40 years, but future looks uncertain
But the future is uncertain, with latest hit "The Boy and the Heron" likely -- but not certainly -- the final feature from celebrated co-founder Hayao Miyazaki, now 84. The studio behind the Oscar-winning "Spirited Away" has become a cultural phenomenon since Miyazaki and the late Isao Takahata established it in 1985. Its popularity has been fuelled of late by a second Academy Award in 2024 for "The Boy and the Heron", starring Robert Pattinson, and by Netflix streaming Ghibli movies around the world. In March, the internet was flooded with pictures in its distinctively nostalgic style after the release of OpenAI's newest image generator -- raising questions over copyright. The newly opened Ghibli Park has also become a major tourist draw for central Japan's Aichi region. Julia Santilli, a 26-year-old from Britain living in northern Japan, "fell in love with Ghibli" after watching the 2001 classic "Spirited Away" as a child. "I started collecting all the DVDs," she told AFP. Ghibli stories are "very engaging and the artwork is stunning", said another fan, Margot Divall, 26. "I probably watch 'Spirited Away' about 10 times a year still." 'Whiff of death' Before Ghibli, most cartoons in Japan -- known as anime -- were made for children. But Miyazaki and Takahata, both from "the generation that knew war", included darker elements that appeal to adults, Miyazaki's son Goro told AFP. "It's not all sweet -- there's also a bitterness and things like that which are beautifully intertwined in the work," he said, describing a "whiff of death" in the films. For younger people who grew up in peacetime, "it is impossible to create something with the same sense, approach and attitude", Goro said. Even "My Neighbor Totoro", with its cuddly forest creatures, is in some ways a "scary" movie that explores the fear of losing a sick mother, he explained. Susan Napier, a professor at Tufts University in the United States and author of "Miyazakiworld: A Life in Art", agrees. "In Ghibli, you have ambiguity, complexity and also a willingness to see that the darkness and light often go together" unlike good-versus-evil US cartoons, she said. The post-apocalyptic "Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind" -- considered the first Ghibli film despite its release in 1984 -- has no obvious villain, for example. The movie featuring an independent princess curious about giant insects and a poisonous forest felt "so fresh" and a change from "a passive woman... having to be rescued", Napier said. Natural world Studio Ghibli films also depict a universe where humans connect deeply with nature and the spirit world. A case in point was 1997's "Princess Mononoke", distributed internationally by Disney. The tale of a girl raised by a wolf goddess in a forest threatened by humans is "a masterpiece -- but a hard movie", Napier said. It's a "serious, dark and violent" film appreciated more by adults, which "was not what US audiences had anticipated with a movie about a princess". Ghibli films "have an environmentalist and animistic side, which I think is very appropriate for the contemporary world with climate change", she added. Miyuki Yonemura, a professor at Japan's Senshu University who studies cultural theories on animation, said watching Ghibli movies is like reading literature. "That's why some children watch Totoro 40 times," she said, adding that audiences "discover something new every time". French connection Miyazaki and Takahata -- who died in 2018 -- could create imaginative worlds because of their openness to other cultures, Yonemura said. Foreign influences included writer Antoine de Saint-Exupery and animator Paul Grimault, both French, and Canadian artist Frederic Back, who won an Oscar for his animation "The Man Who Planted Trees". Takahata studying French literature at university "was a big factor", Yonemura said. "Both Miyazaki and Takahata read a lot," she said. "That's a big reason why they excel at writing scripts and creating stories." Miyazaki has said he was inspired by several books for "Nausicaa", including the 12th-century Japanese tale "The Lady who Loved Insects", and Greek mythology. Studio Ghibli will not be the same after Miyazaki stops creating animation, "unless similar talent emerges", Yonemura said. Miyazaki is "a fantastic artist with such a visual imagination" while both he and Takahata were "politically progressive", Napier said. "The more I study, the more I realise this was a unique cultural moment," she said. "It's so widely loved that I think it will carry on," said Ghibli fan Divall. "As long as it doesn't lose its beauty, as long as it carries on the amount of effort, care and love," she said.
France 24
13 hours ago
- France 24
Midak bids to deliver poignant victory in 'Aga Khan's' Derby
Adding to the potential for a fairytale, Midak is prominent French trainer Francis Graffard's first runner in the race considered to be the 'blue riband' of flat racing. The Aga Khan, for decades a leading owner/breeder of thoroughbreds and whose grandfather Aga Khan III also won the Derby five times, died aged 88 in February. Graffard, 48, says it is coincidental the "historic" Aga Khan colours, of green top with red epaulettes and a green cap will be represented. Midak impressed Graffard so much he persuaded Aga Khan Studs to pay £75,000 ($101,500) to supplement him on Monday for the race. "When I came up with the idea of entering him I did not know it was being renamed in his honour," he told AFP in a phone interview. "Circumstances have colluded, it is great. "So it makes me even more excited. Definitely makes the fact Midak is running even more special. "They are prestigious and historic racing colours." Graffard said triumphing at his first attempt would be magical for the Aga Khan's family. "Yes, you dream about these days," he said. "However, we know how hard it is to win Group One races, especially a Derby. "It is my first runner in the race, we will learn plenty of things and hopefully come back in the future." He will face 18 rivals as he bids to become only the fourth French winner of the Derby in the past 60 years -- the greatest of them all, Sea Bird, triumphing in 1965. Graffard has won one classic for Aga Khan Studs this season, Zarigana benefitting from Shes Perfect's disqualification in the French 1000 Guineas, prompting unsavoury behaviour from the latter's owners who yelled "It's a joke" at the Aga Khan's daughter Princess Zahra as she was interviewed. 'Little bit crazy' Graffard, 54, has been heavily involved in the racing operation for many years. Although he was assistant trainer for a couple of years to Alain de Royer Dupre, the Aga's principal trainer until he retired in 2021, his encounters with him were rare. "No, unfortunately I only met him twice," said Graffard. "I would have loved to have gone racing with him and learned from his experience. "However, Princess Zahra is very experienced and it is really interesting to make plans with her." This teamwork has resulted in them entering Midak and pitting their wits against Delacroix -- bidding to give Irish trainer Aidan O'Brien a record-extending 11th winner -- and father/son partnership John and Thady Gosden's Damysus. Midak might never have even been a contender given that Graffard at one point considered gelding, or castrating, him -- geldings are barred from running in the Derby -- owing to his "tricky temperament". "He was really difficult to train," said Graffard. "But I decided I would take him to the races before I resorted to (gelding) and see how he fared. "In his second race at Chantilly he was very green and jumped the road crossing the track, but he ended up winning nicely." Things went smoother on his last start, winning the Group Three Prix Greffulhe, the same race that Pour Moi, France's last winner of the Derby in 2011, also captured. "He ran much more professionally," said Graffard. "He is basically improving all the time." Graffard says this season has only underlined that he made the right decision in opting to become a trainer rather than pursuing a career as a lawyer. "It is a little bit crazy to think in the next fortnight we have two runners at Epsom then the Prix Diane and after that Royal Ascot," he said. "It is the dream job." © 2025 AFP
