The comeback so many of the boxing world had feared was confirmed on Wednesday when the 46-year-old Manny Pacquiao revealed that his date with Mario Barrios on July 19 is official.
That one of the very finest fighters of the modern era was preparing to return after a four-year absence had represented one of the worst-kept secrets of an industry that thrives on gossip and rumour.
Pacquiao last fought when losing to Cuba’s Yordenis Ugas in August 2021 on an evening when he looked far from the destructive fighter he had been at his peak over a decade earlier.
In challenging Barrios for the 30-year-old’s WBC welterweight title at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand the Filipino is also being rewarded with an immediate title fight despite his decline and inactivity in a weight division he last recorded victory in against Keith Thurman in 2019.
It is perhaps relevant that the career of Thurman, 36 years old and after only one defeat, was considered over until he returned at junior middleweight in March to defeat Australia’s lightly regarded Brock Jarvis.
Pacquiao, however, appears to be being treated considerably differently. He will enter his 73rd fight without attempting to shed the ring rust that affects even the greatest of fighters, and after 498 rounds as a professional in a career that started at 106lbs, attempt to dethrone a vastly more active fighter 16 years his junior.
“I’m back,” he posted on social media. “On July 19, I return to the ring to face WBC welterweight champion Mario Barrios at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
“Let’s make history.”
Pacquiao, incidentally, is in June scheduled to be inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.