One of boxing’s all-time legends is looking for a return to the ring.
Manny Pacquiao — the first boxer to win championships in four different weight classes, boxing’s only eight-division champ, and the only boxer to notch world titles across four decades — is slated to un-retire, at age 46, for a crack at another World Boxing Championship belt, per Andreas Hale of ESPN.
The 5-foot-5 former superstar, who most recently served as a senator in his native Philippines from 2016-2022, is slated to face off against Mario Barrios for the welterweight WBC title in Las Vegas on July 19.
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The action will be broadcast via PBC on Prime Video pay-per-view.
Pacquiao’s most recent bout was a unanimous decision defeat to Yordenis Ugas in an August 2021 WBA welterweight championship fight.
Following the fight, Pacquiao revealed on his official social media account that he was hanging up his gloves for good — or so we all thought.
“Even me, I’m amazed at what I have done,” the 12-time world champ declared during a 14-minute video, per Mike Coppinger of ESPN. “The only boxer to hold world titles in four different decades and became the oldest boxer to win a world welterweight title, an amazing accomplishment.”
Pacquiao’s 2008 demolition of Oscar De La Hoya, an eighth-round TKO, announced him on the world stage.
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Pacquiao’s $575 million in career earnings, unadjusted, ranks him third all-time in combat sports athlete purses, behind only Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s $1.52 billion and Mike Tyson’s $965 million.
Already a Hall of Famer (he’ll be enshrined in June, a month prior to his un-retirement), Pacquiao is reportedly set to announce his return to the ring after the May 12 election in the Philippines.
Pacquiao has taken home impressive purses. His biggest haul ever happened during a May 2015 clash with Mayweather, dubbed the “Fight of the Century. Pacquiao, playing through a torn rotator cuff, never had much of a chance. Still, he notched an impressive $125 million for his efforts.
Boxing comebacks don’t always go the way of George Foreman. It remains to be seen if Pacquiao can at least hold his own against the 29-year-old Barrios, the reigning welterweight champ, this summer.
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