Promoter Eddie Hearn may well be the most shocked man in the room if living legend Manny Pacquiao manages to turn back the hands of time and defeat 30 year old Mario Barrios next month. Hearn, speaking with Fight Hype, said that in his opinion those fans who do turn up in person or tune in on the evening of July 19th to see Pacquiao’s challenge for the WBC welterweight title, will “see a shot legend in the ring.”
Hearn, unlike a good many other people from the boxing world who are either willing to give 46 year old Pacquiao a shot, or are wholly supportive of his comeback and feel he will be able to pull off the win, maybe by KO or stoppage, isn’t buying into Manny having any shot at all.
“He’ll beat Pacquiao quite handily”—Hearn’s blunt forecast
“Barrios is not the greatest world champion but I think he’s better than what we saw last time out when he boxed on the Mike Tyson [Vs. Jake Paul] card (Barrios being held to a draw by Abel Ramos), and I think he’ll beat Manny Pacquiao quite handily,” Hearn said. “I’m happy for Manny but it just should work out like that, and you’ll see a shot legend in the ring, which I think is quite sad. But, listen, if he wants to do it and he’s got the will to do it, good luck to him. But I just don’t think you should be out five years, not fight anybody, and then just stroll back into the rankings because you’re Manny Pacquiao. Do the fight, but it shouldn’t be for the world championship, in my opinion. But I don’t think he has a chance at all, even though Barrios has showed no great form.”
Unfair comeback? Hearn slams Pacquiao’s title shot
Pacquiao, 62-8-2(39) has actually been removed from the WBC rankings, where he was controversially placed at No. 5 a while back; this a “mistake” according to the WBC. But Hearn is far from alone when he says it’s unfair for Pacquiao to be able to come right back into a world title shot the way he has done. That said, Manny is a star, and stardom carries its privileges. This fight will be big, and it’s down to Pacquiao, not Barrios, 29-2-1(18).
Has Manny got absolutely no chance of winning, though, the way Hearn says? Don’t tell people like Roy Jones, Erik Morales, Jeff Mayweather, Chris Algieri, Gerry Penalosa, and quite a few other experts who refuse to write Pac-Man off.
With just a month and two days to go until fight night, so many people everywhere are asking, can Manny do it!?
