LAS VEGAS, United States — Not solely did Manny Pacquiao efficiently scratch a boxing itch that had bugged him for 4 years, however he might need additionally readjusted his boxing shelf life within the course of.
In a gutsy efficiency Saturday right here (Sunday in Manila) that no 46-year-old must be able to, Pacquiao proved that he can nonetheless gas his ardour for the game with a renewed dedication to coaching and persistence to placed on a present.
Now, his battle towards World Boxing Council welterweight champion Mario Barrios on the MGM Grand Backyard Enviornment most positively won’t be a one-off.
A day after battling Barrios to a polarizing majority choice, as an alternative of wallowing in disappointment, it was as an alternative Pacquiao who consoled his household, buddies and followers throughout a Bible research inside one of many resort’s convention rooms.
“I do know plenty of you might be upset,” Pacquiao addressed the group from the stage.
“However fortuitously, there was no repeat of what occurred earlier than, after I misplaced,” he mentioned in Filipino, referring to the battle 4 years in the past that despatched him to retirement.
In urgent the motion and attaining stable offensive success towards Barrios — a fighter 16 years his junior — Pacquiao has erased the bitter reminiscence of his loss to Cuba’s Yordenis Ugas in 2021.
It was the battle that prompted him to hold up his gloves and led critics to write down his boxing obituary.
However these gloves have since been unhung, dusted, and now prepared for extra motion.
“Rattling, however I would heard all alongside that the Pacquiao who fought me was completed, lifeless, nothing,” Ugas wrote on X, enamored by Pacquiao’s efficiency towards Barrios, who, curiously, was the Cuban’s former vanquisher.
“How is it potential that 4 years later he comes towards a child 16 years youthful and places up one other good battle?”
Already, there are talks of compacting in another battle this 12 months for Pacquiao.
“December is smart,” mentioned Sean Gibbons, the hands-on chief of Pacquiao’s MP Promotions.
Gibbons earlier floated young lions Rolly Romero and Gervonta “Tank” Davis as potential dance companions for the previous eight-division world champion.
In his continued defiance of Father Time, the search for additional boxing relevance has restarted for Pacquiao — “undoubtedly, among the best fighters in historical past,” in line with Ugas.