Mario Barrios defeated Manny Pacquiao to defeat him at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, which was a failure to make history’s oldest welterweight champion.
He also did not lose, either.
Instead, the 30-year-old Barrios and the 46-year-old Pacquiao fought to a majority draw on Saturday, with one judge awarding Barrios a 115-113 victory and the other two judges drawing a 114-114 draw.
Barrios (29-2-2, 18 knockouts) kept his WBC welterweight belt thanks to the outcome.
Pacquiao later said, “I thought I won the fight.
It was a close fight, to be sure. My adversary was very tough. A wonderful fight ensued. It turned out well.
The record for the oldest welterweight champion was won by split-decision over Keith Thurman in 2019. Pacquiao already holds the record for the record with 62-8-3, 39 KOs.
The Filipino legend was inducted last month into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. Pacquiao showed vigor against his younger foe in the opening fight of Saturday.
In the end, Barrios received more punches (121) and jabs (152) than Pacquiao’s (75), but in the end, his stats from CompuBox came in at 81.
After 10 rounds, Pacquiao held the lead on all three scorecards, but Barrios avoided the incident by avoiding the upset by going all three rounds. After the fight, Pacquiao was undoubtedly thinking about age and endurance.
Pacquiao, who lost his bid for the Philippines’ senatorial seat in May, said, “I need to keep training for longer before I fight for the title.” I started late because of the election, but that’s okay. Of course, I want a repeat. I want to inspire the Filipino people with a legacy.
Don’t let Barrios know that.
The champion called his stamina “wrong.” He still has good timing and is strong as hell. He continues to struggle with awkwardness.
Barrios is prepared for a rematch.
“I’ll do the rematch,” I promise. Absolutely not. For boxing, this was huge. I’d really like to do it again.
Source: Aljazeera
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