Manny Pacquiao looked nothing like his old self in a three-round exhibition against former kickboxer Rukiya Anpo last Saturday night in a non-scored bout at the Saitama Super Arena, Saitama, Japan.
Pacquiao appeared weak, slow, and feeble, getting batted around the ring by the 6’0″ stork-like Anpo last night. If you’re a fan of Pacquiao, it was tough to watch because he got hit a lot by the Japanese fighter, who didn’t take it easy on him.
The former kickboxer landed some vicious shots at Pacquiao, and it was surprising that he stayed on his feet without getting dropped or knocked out. Whatever power Manny once had was absent against Anpo, and he didn’t have the blazing hand speed either.
It’s unclear how much Pacquiao was paid for the exhibition match against Anpo. Whatever it was, he earned his money taking all those heavy headshots from the tall Japanese fighter, who was loading up on his punches and seemingly looking for a knockout against the superstar.
Pacquiao’s inactivity since 2021 has taken a lot out of him, and he doesn’t have the power that he once did. Manny will return soon to challenge Mario Barrios for his WBC welterweight title. Hopefully, Pacquiao will change his mind after his performance against Anpo.
Barrios recently beat Yordenis Ugas, the fighter Pacquiao lost to in 2021. That’s not a good sign for Pacquiao because he’s fighting at too high of a level for him to unseat him in the WBC welterweight title.
There aren’t too many boxing fans who favor Pacquiao fighting for a world title against Barrios in his first fight back since 2021. Perhaps Manny can regain his old magic and defeat Barrios, but he’ll have to improve his power to do so.
Besides the health reasons involved with the soon-to-be 46-year-old Pacquiao fighting for a world title, it’s not fair to the contenders in the WBC’s top 15 for him to leapfrog over them for a title shot that he hasn’t earned.
Pacquiao isn’t ranked in the top tier at welterweight and doesn’t rate a world title shot. If he wants to do an exhibition match against Barrios, that would be fine, but not for his title.
Manny looks like he’s still capable of beating some of the top 15 contenders in the welterweight division, but not many. I would favor Pacquiao to beat these top-tier contenders:
Conor Benn
Paddy Donovan
Cletus Seldin
Lewis Crocker
Harry Scarff
Tresean Wiggins
The rest of the contenders at 147 would likely handily beat Pacquiao, and many would knock him out.
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