Pacquiao to come out of retirement, challenge Barrios says WBC chief

Manny Pacquiao is set to come out of retirement at 46 years old as World Boxing Council president Mauricio Sulaiman confirmed that the Filipino pound-for-pound king is aiming a fight against welterweight champion Mario Barrios.
The WBC chief revealed the potential fight in an interview with Boxing King Media, noting the it could happen anytime in July.
“At this time, Mario Barrios is going to fight Manny Pacquiao in July,” the WBC president told Boxing King Media with the statement quickly going viral all over social media.
“That’s a tremendous fight. Manny Pacquiao’s first [world] title was at flyweight – with the WBC – and [now] he wants to retire as the WBC champion, so he’s fighting in the welterweight division,” he added.
While a return to the ring for the eight division world champion should excite fans and enthusiasts alike, there are questions on how fit Pacquiao is for a competitive fight especially since the last time he fought on top of the ring professionally was way back in 2021.
Pacquiao, then 42 years old, fought Yordenis Ugas and lost in a unanimous decision.
The soon-to-be boxing Hall of Famer also hasn't had much time training as well as he is vying for a spot in the senate in the May midterm elections.Pacquiao did see action in some exhibition matches but that only showed that Father Time has caught up the peoples champ.
For one, Barrios, while coming off a draw against Abel Ramos last December, is certainly no pushover, seemingly still at the peak of his career at 29 years old and with a 29-2-1 record with 18 knockouts.
The American slugger even defeated Ugas – the same boxer Pacquiao last fought – back in September 2023, downing him twice in their bout to win the WBC interim world welterweight crown before becoming the full pledge king of the division after Terrence Crawford moved up to a 154-pound class.