Manny Pacquiao will be coming out of mothballs to challenge Mario Barrios for his WBC welterweight title tonight at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. The 46-year-old Pacquiao (62-8-2, 39 KOs) believes he can capture a world title after four years of retirement.
Manny will need all the skills he had 15 years ago to win tonight, as he’s quite old and has already shown vulnerability before his retirement. Many boxing fans believe he can pull off the upset against the 30-year-old Barrios (29-2-1, 18 KOs). The oddsmakers don’t see it that way. They have Barrios as the favorite.
Watch Pacquiao vs. Barrios PPV
Tonight’s entire event will be shown on PBC on Prime Video Pay-Per-View starting at 8:00 PM ET / 5:00 PM PT. The PPV price is $79.99. The prelim card will be shown for free for Prime Video subscribers. Regular viewers will have to subscribe to see this portion of the undercard, which isn’t free to join.
Pacquiao-Barrios Full Fight Card
Manny Pacquiao vs. Mario Barrios
Sebastian Fundora vs. Tim Tszyu 2
Isaac Cruz vs. Omar Salcido
Brandon Figueroa vs. Joet Gonzalez
Gary Russell Jr. vs. Hugo Castañeda
David Picasso vs. Kyonosuke Kameda
Mark Magsayo vs. Jorge Mata
Pacquiao’s Retirement Fight Earnings
If Pacquiao loses tonight, he can return to retirement, knowing that he is truly done as a fighter. He won’t have that nagging feeling that he can still recapture glory one last time. He’s being paid lavishly for this fight, $12.6 million, which could increase to over $18 million once the PPV buys are factored in. That’s good money for a faded fighter coming off a loss and a four-year retirement.
Fundora vs. Tszyu 2 Rematch
In the co-feature, WBC junior middleweight champion Sebastian Fundora (22-1-1, 14 KOs) will be looking to repeat in his rematch with Tim Tszyu (25-2, 18 KOs). Fundora beat Tszyu last year by a 12-round split decision.
Tszyu and his followers blame it on the cut he sustained. However, he looked like he could see perfectly throughout the fight, but lacked the talent to win.
Some fans have criticized the fight, as they believe Tszyu’s 1-2 record in his last two fights makes him unworthy of a world title shot against Fundora. World title shots re supposed to be earned on merit, not having it given to them based on a fighter’s popularity in their home country. Tszyu doesn’t deserve a world title shot with his poor record since last year.
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