Who is Mario Barrios?
By Joaquin Henson
PhilBoxing.com
Tue, 20 May 2025
There is no official announcement but the boxing world is buzzing with talk that Manny Pacquiao is coming back from retirement to face WBC welterweight champion Mario Barrios at the T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas on July 19. Pacquiao is 46 and Barrios, 30 but the age difference may be inconsequential because experience has a lot to do with getting a leg up on an opponent in the ring. Pacquiao has figured in 72 fights compared to Barrios’ 32 and when the Filipino icon turned pro in January 1995, the San Antonio, Texas fighter wasn’t even born.
Pacquiao, wife Jinkee, trainer Buboy Fernandez and his traveling party arrived in Los Angeles Sunday night (yesterday morning, Manila time). A press conference may be held this week to announce the fight with Pacquiao set to start working out at the Wild Card Gym.
Whether Pacquiao will be in tip-top condition to battle Barrios is a debatable issue. He’s coming off a grueling election campaign that surely took a toll. But Pacquiao is Pacquiao. He listens to his body, knows how to get in shape and understands what it takes to win in the ring. Pacquiao won’t risk taking on Barrios at less than full strength. He fights with honor and pride for his country. That’s motivation to enter the ring ready to fight.
Who is Barrios and is he beatable? His record is 29-2-1 with 18 KOs. He has decked 12 opponents and was knocked down himself in two fights. Barrios looked shaky in his most recent outing, retaining his WBC belt on a split draw with Abel Ramos in Texas last November. He dropped Ramos with a left hook-right straight combination in the second round but went down in the sixth. Barrios’ nose was busted and he was lucky to escape with a draw. It wasn’t the first time Barrios took an eight-count. Against Gervonta (Tank) Davis, a southpaw like Pacquiao, Barrios was floored twice, in the eighth and 11th frames, and lost by TKO in Atlanta in 2021.
Barrios has suffered cuts near his left eye in three bouts, twice due to a punch and once due to a headbutt. He struggled with a badly swollen right eye against Fabian Maidana last year but survived to win on points. His defense is clearly suspect. On offense, Barrios has power in both hands. A left hook to the body led to Jovanie Santiago’s loss by stoppage in the eighth round in 2023. Yordenis Ugas, the last man to defeat Pacquiao, was a victim that same year as the Cuban was decked in the second and 12th rounds enroute to losing by a lopsided decision. In 2019, Barrios sent Uzbek southpaw Batyr Akhmedov twice to the canvas but wasn’t convincing in winning by a unanimous verdict.
Barrios was only seven weeks old when his sister Esperanza died of a lacerated heart caused by a blow to the chest from their father Mario, Sr. who was imprisoned for the murder in 1995. His mother Isabel Soto took custody of older sister Selina and him. It was his mother who introduced Selina and him to boxing when she was nine and he was seven. His grandmother raised him as his mother took classes to become a medical assistant. His stepfather Martin was his first trainer then Virgil Hunter and Andre Ward took over. His father was released from prison in 2020. From cauliflower row, it’s often mentioned that Barrios “was born in chaos and raised in love.”
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