It was an encore that no one requested. But by the end of 12 boxing rounds, it turned out to be one that we needed.
Although it was still a bit of a surprise when Manny Pacquiao ended his retirement to fight WBC welterweight champion Mario Barrios, there was always a lingering feeling that his loss to Yordenis Ugas wasn’t it.
His 2021 loss to Ugas, where Pacquiao looked old and slow, seemed like a rather tame end to what was an explosive Hall of Fame career.
Fast forward to 2025, Pacquiao’s entrance back to professional boxing had all the bells and whistles.
Droves showed up in Las Vegas, even the veteran journalists who covered Pacquiao throughout his career dusted off their passports and joined him for a callback at the MGM Grand, the very place that also witnessed his classic stoppage wins against fellow legends Oscar de la Hoya, Ricky Hatton, and Miguel Cotto.
In the Philippines, there was a similar feeling. Traffic was lighter than usual, and different venues hosted watch parties.
It threw us all back to Pacquiao’s heyday, to the time when everything stopped to watch greatness that sprang out from nothing to become the best in the world.
The result was a bit of a letdown though, with the 46-year-old Pacquiao and Barrios fighting to a rather disappointing majority draw.
An improbable victory would have been another feather in Pacquiao’s cap; being the second oldest to win a world championship after Bernard Hopkins.
The effort, however, was nothing short of a letdown.
When a fighter his age steps into the ring, it is natural to worry about his well-being. That was the general feeling for most Filipino fans as Manny challenged a world champion in his prime age of 30.
It’s good to see him fight again, but you just hope he doesn’t end up too seriously hurt.
When the third round came along, that mindset was forgotten. It looked like Pacquiao can still truly go, so might was well try to win it and become a world champion once again.
While the odds were stacked against Manny, the Barrios fight was a calculated move from Pacquiao’s camp.
Among the three champions at welterweight, Barrios looked like the most beatable. Both the IBF Champion Jaron Ennis and the WBO champion Brian Norman Jr. are undefeated, with knockout percentages of 88 percent and 78 percent, respectively.
On the other end, Barrios claimed the interim version of the WBC crown at 147 against Ugas and was then promoted to the regular championship when Terrence Crawford moved to 154. His first title defense ended only with a split draw against Abel Ramos last November.
Pacquiao had great moments in the match, the best of which was an old-school flurry in the eighth round.
Manny was actually up in all judges’ scorecards after the ninth but Barrios did enough to win the final three rounds unanimously, allowing him to hang on to his championship and deny Pacquiao his dream comeback.
In the immediate aftermath after another rather controversial decision to a Pacquiao fight, the ruling has been analyzed by multiple writers. Some say Manny should have won it, while others thought it was really too close to call.
My appreciation for it is a little different.
Watching him fight, I realized how much I missed watching Pacquiao as “just” a boxer. No campaign to think of, no election to win, no introductions that included his government position.
Just Pacquiao, stripped of all the baggage, doing what he does best.
After the fight, I hope Pacquiao saw just how much love the Filipino people still have for him. And maybe not voting him into another stint in the Senate was not a rebuke, but a reminder that he’s bigger than that, that he and his story and the hope he brings means more.
I hope Manny knows that his boxing supporters never stopped admiring him. Showbiz friends have come and gone. Many of his politician buddies, who flanked him before every fight when the flights and hotel rooms were free, are mostly gone already too.
But his boxing people? They stayed. Those who don’t need to Google the names Chatchai Sasakul, Nedal Hussein, Agapito Sanchez, and Emmanuel Lucero to tell you who they are? Those are the ones for keeps.
Seeing Pacquiao fight a full 12 rounds and manage a draw against a fighter 16 years his junior was nothing short of inspiring. Manny continues to defy the odds that were always stacked against him.
He was not supposed to amount to anything after losing to Rustico Torrecampo.
He was not supposed to jump to bantamweight too quickly after losing his first world title at 112.
He was not supposed to face the biggest dog at 126 in Marco Antonio Barrera in only his second fight at featherweight.
He was not supposed to be physically big enough for super featherweight, for lightweight, for light welterweight, for welterweight, and definitely not supposed to be venturing into super welterweight.
But legends like Pacquiao never concern themselves with what they are not supposed to do. They march to the beat of their own drum. They follow their own schedule. Manny Pacquiao is his own man.
And now, we can watch him and just cheer. Maybe enough to remind us of our younger days and simpler times. Waking up early on a Sunday to watch the entire Pacquiao pay-per-view, cheering for the Filipinos fighting in the undercard who get to share a little bit of Pacquiao’s light, and going wild when some cheesy fight song, his own or otherwise, plays in the arena wherever he fought.
Should he do it again? Only he knows the answer to that question.
A quote attributed to Winston Churchill was famously written at the Wild Card Gym, and these words still ring true for the great Manny Pacquiao.
"You will never reach your destination if you stop and throw rocks at every dog that barks.”
The world can have its opinions, but Pacquiao is still enjoying all the stops en route to his destination.