Manny Pacquaio and Boxing Fans Robbed in Las Vegas

Manny Pacquiao was robbed of making history on Saturday night in Las Vegas, where the formerly retired boxing great had hoped to reclaim his welterweight title from current champ Mario Barrios. And most of the 13,000 fans packing the MGM Grand Garden Arena felt just as robbed, booing loudly when the ring announcer proclaimed: “The decision is a majority draw.”

The 46-year-old Pacquiao, who retired four years ago with a record of 29-2-2 and 18 KOs, built an early lead in his comeback attempt, throwing flurries of quick punches that fazed Barrios.

“I thought I won the fight,” he said afterward.

The three judges thought differently. One scored the fight 115-113 in Barrios’ favor, which was overruled by the two others seeing it as a 114-114 draw.

Manny Down!

The judges declared Pacquiao ahead going into the 10th round. However, in the final three, the former champ landed only 101 of his 577 punches (17.5%) vs. Barrios’ 120 out of 658 (18.2%). Pacquiao held the edge in power punches (81 to 75) but many weren’t clear or damaging, while Barrios used his jab effectively and countered well.

The ring announcer tried appeasing the disgruntled fans by holding both fighter’s hands up high in victory. But the booing doubled in volume after he spelled out the implications of the draw: “And, of course, in that case, the champion retains his title.”

Had Pacquiao won, he would’ve made history as the second-oldest fighter in boxing history to capture a major world boxing title — behind Bernard Hopkins, who did it at 49 in 2014 —  and as the first fighter to win a major world title after being inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.

Pacquaio, who won 12 world boxing titles across eight weight divisions in 26 years, already became the oldest fighter to win the welterweight title in 2019, when he did it at age 40.

This was Pacquaio’s first fight since 2021, when he lost to reigning welterweight champ Yordenis Ugas at T-Mobile Arena.