Manny Pacquiao’s highly anticipated return to boxing left fight fans frustrated.
‘PacMan’ stepped back inside the squared circle on Saturday night for a clash with reigning and defending WBC welterweight world champion Mario Barrios.
Despite being 16 years older than his opponent and coming off a four-year-long layoff, Pacquiao didn’t miss a beat against the much bigger Barrios. Pacquiao was the aggressor for much of the contest and appeared to have a speed advantage over Barrios despite the sizeable age gap.
It wasn’t until the later rounds that Barrios finally started to find his footing and connect with some solid shots against the former eight-division titleholder. Still, it seemed to be too little, too late for Barrios, who showed entirely too much respect to ‘PacMan’ in the first half of the fight.
As we headed to the scorecards, the raucous crowd in Las Vegas was primed to hear that we have a new WBA welterweight world champion. Instead, we got a decision that left the entire boxing community scratching their heads.
Official Result: Mario Barrios vs. Manny Pacquiao is ruled a majority draw (115-113 Barrios, 114-114, 114-114).
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